Chapter 6

Fireflies

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Mystic Ruins...literally looked ruined.  It was a bare wasteland, filled with nothing but dead grass, wilted trees and sand patches.  Magnificent waterfalls and rivers where water used to flourish calmly were now abandoned craters, providing no purpose to the earth but to collect dirt.  The night sky, however, glittered its stars across the forsaken scene as if trying to revive it by its magical presence.  The full moon was as bright as can be, softly caressed by the seawater's reflection by gratitude of arrival and was carried along the ripples of the sea.

Yet Cream and Tails were not in the least appalled by the horrific view, and that was somewhat hard for Sonic to understand.  Instead, they were flying - racing each other to the mine train next to the hill where Tail's garage nested, which ironically looked abandoned as well.  But he let his thoughts behind him as he quickly zoomed towards the cart and had beaten them both before they had realized that he had joined the race in the first place.

The ride to the Chao Garden was actually nicer than the previous sight, as fireflies dazzled across the mossy rocks that formed across the track, entertaining the mine riders as they proudly showed off which of the bunch could light up the brightest.  Cream reached out of the cart constantly trying to catch a firefly, and whenever she succeeded she showed them to Cake, who was enjoying the trip a lot.  Sometimes Cake would accidentally squish a firefly by trying to grab it itself and began to cry, so Cream would just rub the dead firefly's belly on her dress and on her nose so that it glowed too, which sent Cake into laughter.  Cream stopped catching them after Cake began to deliberately kill fireflies so that way she would decorate on herself some more. 

"No, Cake!  Stop killing them!  That's not very nice OR polite of you, you know!" she squealed once she realized that Cake wasn't just bad at grabbing the precious bugs.  But Cake just rubbed his face on her stained dress and then sent Cream into giggles after seeing his round face almost as bright as the morning sun.

Tails seemed to have never noticed the two playing, probably because either the two playing wasn't new to him or he had his mind set on other things.  He just continued to blankly look ahead of the trail, sitting as still as a statue attached to the metal cart.  Sonic knew not to interrupt him, whatever was going on through his mind.  Just then, he felt something wet rubbing against his left leg. 

Sure enough, Cake had just rubbed his face along his leg, which now looked like golden blood that had seeped in his fur.  Cream gasped and covered her mouth, but it was quite apparent that she was hiding a large smile away from him.

"Oh, so you want to get me dirty too, is that it?"  he said with an annoyed tone toward Cake, which sent the little chao to a worry.  Cream just looked at Sonic, and he looked back.  Then, he rubbed his gloved finger against a stained part of her dress and looked at Cake again.  Cake sweatdropped, not knowing whether to think of this as a punishment or not and stopped smiling.  Cream got nervous about what Sonic might do next... 

After a few silent seconds however, Sonic then quickly drew a dorky upside-down smiley face on his belly with his finger, sending the three tearing with laughter.  After Sonic stopped laughing for feeling really stupid, he noticed that Tails had broken off from whatever he was thinking about and apparently saw the entire thing, as he just shook his head with a smirk on his face.  Sonic grinned back, shrugging his shoulders and raising his hands up in an "I-don't-know-don't-ask" kind of gesture.  It was at that moment, however, that they had reached the end to their destination as the train halted right in front of a ledge.  They were in the Mystic Ruins Chao Garden.

This was probably the only zone that, if anything, was actually inviting.

The pillars still towered like before, and the pool was still the purest shade of blue possible even though it was night.  The grass was just begging for somebody to stroll across it barefooted as it swayed across the wind gracefully.  The stars and full moon looked more beautiful than ever before here rather than out in front of the garage.  He then understood why Amy went here often. 

But the only new addition to the garden was a tiny sanctuary that greatly mimiced the Master Emerald's shrine but without any threatening precious emeralds.  It was there where a girl sat in the shadows, gently petting something tinier with what looked like quills in a recurring pattern.

Cream instantly leaped out of the cart, while Sonic followed suit slowly.  He was unsure about how he was going to start, how to handle that the one person next to Sally that he knows had a crush on him would react to what was almost certain the death of a loved one has been brought back to life. 

(Would she be able to accept my revival, that I was once dead and now alive? Am I even welcomed anymore?

This worried him to no end, but was determined to face the music and accept whatever fate has prepared for him.  Besides, he's been through worse, as this isn't exactly the end of the world...is it?

Just then, Tails reached out of the cart and grabbed Cream's arm, which sent her to a shock, and led Sonic to look back.

"I'll wait with Cream on the mine train," he whispered. "You two need to talk without us interrupting or bugging you." 

And with that, Cream pouted silently with disappointment, and got back in the cart with Cake, who was already clinging to Sonic's stained leg.  Sonic then had the courage to jump off the ledge and quietly walked towards Amy, slowly being consumed along the shadows as well.

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He made one step up towards the mini-flight of stairs leading to the center of the shrine, able to make out the tiny portion of Amy's head, which looked a very pale pink under the shade.  As he walked closer, he already saw some changes on her.  Apparently, she hasn't trimmed her hair-like quills, which somewhat made her look like an echidna, and her center quill had a weird design on it.  He made it to the last step and  couldn't stop staring at her...

There she was, her back pointed towards Sonic, petting her little chao gently by her side while her mind was off drifting elsewhere staring at the full moon.  He couldn't believe his eyes.  She looked like a completely different person. 

And yet...he's seen her already...

She strongly resembled the other Amy from the other world but with distinguishable differences.

She wore a prototype black jumpsuit in which the sleeves were ripped off from her elbows and knees down, and instead of the golden cuffs she wore way back when, they were covered with metal spiked cuffs.  And, sadly yes, she also had a metal plate bolted on the top of her head as well.  Her quill now made out a somewhat purple hieroglyphic symbol of a perfect circle, in which the left side was astrological sun while the right was a crescent moon with a star etched in between the two main stars. The image was tilted at around a 45 degree angle, but still distinguishable enough.

And, true to Cream's word, her little chao Ruby had a blue spike ball floating above her head and also had quills that strikingly looked like Sonic's own, but it showed no presence of abuse as she held on to her leg with eyes filled with joy and comfort.  But this chao sensed that something seemed a bit unusual as a question mark suddenly appeared over her head, and then mistakenly looked dead at Sonic in the eye.  Ruby didn't know how to take that there was a stranger right behind their backs, not to mention that this creature's belly and leg was reflecting a mysterious light, which could only mean danger... Sonic slowly put a finger against his lips and made a 'shhh' sound, but that wasn't enough to not make the chao quit worrying.

ENGYAA!! ENGYAAA!!!

Amy then ceased drifting off instantly and looked over to the frantic Ruby.

"Hmm?  What's wrong, baby girl?  Something the matter?"

It felt like forever since he's heard her speak.  The feeling of finally being able to see and hear Amy, even though all those years she's been even a pest, she was one of the few who would always stay true and by his side.  And never in his life would he ever feel so relieved to know that she would still be willing to risk everything for him, or else she wouldn't of have ran away and journied with Tails and Cream.

Ruby kept on hopping up and down pointing straight at Sonic's reflecting stomach.  ENGYAA! 

Then, she realized that in the corner of her eye that there indeed was a faint light.  She then looked slowly towards her sight, not exactly sure of what exactly was going on...then all of time seemed to have stopped.

Her eyes widened, her pupils dilated in a flash.  She froze in place and felt her stomach drop...

Sonic just stood there, with his eyes wide open as well, as a chill went down his spine.  He had no idea whether to make a move or what...

Millions of thoughts soared through the young girl's mind, not knowing whether or not she was fantacising too far beyond belief...was this for real?  Is she seeing things?...

Sonic slowly opened his mouth as if he was about to speak, but could only breath slowly as words didn't come out, but then had the courage to speak.

"...Amy?"

Panic ran through the young hedgehog, sending her to leap in the air and completely stood up on her guard, but never letting him out of her sight.  Poor Ruby had no clue in how to take this sudden situation and could only look back and forth at Amy and the stranger, only to have a question mark appear over her head once again and then decided to run and hold on to her owner's leg.  Then Amy extended her arm more and more towards the nearest pillar.  Sonic tried to advance towards her by taking a step but was instantly halted as she grabbed her spear and quickly pointed it at his heart.

"Stay back!  I'm warning you!  You get away from me, you hear?!"  She said shakily with a faint yet strong tone.

But Sonic only reached towards the tastefully-decorated spear and gently pushed it aside from him to point off away from him, and began to walk closer to her.  She gasped heavily and took a step back, almost tripping backwards as she stepped at the edge of the stairs but kept her balance.  He then was close enough to reach out to her and caress her cheek with his hand, looking deeply into her worried eyes.

"Amy..." he smiled and releasing a small and faint chuckle, "...I'm...finally back home."

Her spear clanked on the floor, sending Ruby into a shock.  Amy began tearing with disbelief, but then reached her hand out to caress Sonic's cheek and smiled for what seemed as she had finally remembered how to smile for the longest time, and hugged him almost instantly and sobbed, pillowing her head against his chest.

Sonic wrapped his arms around her, finally hearing her voice for what seemed like an eternity, even though it was from crying, but it didn't matter.  Her soft, familiar tone seemed as medicine to hide away any shame that hung over his head from what has happened during those hard years.  There were no need for words for the moment, as the two who seemed inseperable finally proved to live out their title, and finally reunite once and for all.  The stars and moon did shine their brightest for a reason, afterall...

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Am I taking the reunion a bit too far at that last portion?  Well…you decide. ;-)  Next chapter I'll finish sometime this week.  This time, I am asking for reviews, not just for inspiration but also for critiques—I'm curious about how I'm doing, and I don't mind flames either, just not pointless ones that I cannot learn from.  Thanks!  ^_^