Wow. Still occupied with my summer homework, so sorry. But I did manage to write a chapter, oh joy-friggin-rapture!! ^^ Sorry if it's a bit longer than usual but I had to make sure that their dialogue came out just the way I wanted it.
With that said, now off with you! :P
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Chapter 7
Intruding
"This is no fair OR fun!" Cream pouts loudly with her arms crossed while Cake imitated her. "I wanted to see Amy's face after she saw Sonic! Why can't we go now? You made me miss the good part anyways!"
Both Cream and Tails sat inside the mine cart, awaiting for Sonic and Amy to come back after their little get-together, since Tails thought it was a bad idea to just 'barge in at the moment'. About a half an hour passed since Sonic had left the cart, and the moon was pretty close to being masked by the rocky boundaries of the Chao Garden.
"Hey! They need their time alone, but you'll be able to see them once they come back. Give it 10 more minutes, alright?" he said really ticked off.
"This is boring. I'm not going to just sit here and do nothing! What's the fun of being a teenager anyways if you're always cooked up inside? I'm going!"
Cream then jumped out of the cart past Tail's reach, and along mid air she began to fly towards the sanctuary, carrying Cake along in her arms.
"Cream! Come back here! Don't make me follow you! CREAM! Gah...teenagers, I swear." The annoyed Tails then followed suit and chased her.
Cream slowly landed on the very side of the sanctuary, making sure her landing made no sound whatsoever. She then squats down to Cake's level.
"Ok, you know what to do, right?" she whispers softly.
Cake nods and moves his hand across his mouth as if he was zippering it up. Cream then pretends to grab his side of his mouth.
"Now you can't say anything until I give you back the key to open your mouth again, got it?"
Cake winks and then sat patiently next to her foot. She was pretty close to them too, able to hear their conversation with no problem, but couldn't resist peeping up to be able to see them. Frequently, she would lower her hand towards Cake and scratch his head but would still focus on Sonic and Amy, then retract it back to the ledge out of habit. Other than that, she stayed perfectly still.
"What's that on your...?" Amy asked pointing at Sonic. They were both sitting on the ledge of the little sanctuary facing the flourescent sea.
"Oh that? I was joking around with Cream and Cake, and that little mess there happened."
"Oh..." She quietly said as she stared back at the sky blankly yet with a smile.
Ruby, who was in-between the two, tilted her head so she could see Sonic's stomach upside down, which resulted her to being spooked and sticking her tongue out at the smeared smiley menacingly!
"Cream is like a sister to me." Amy just said while still staring at the remainder of the moon and patting Ruby's head (who then fell into a trance). "We do everything together while Tails is away repairing the garage or something. We talk and play and kid around, and I could be the pre-teen I used to be once more. I'm also grateful for that."
"Well that's nice to hear."
"Yeah..."
Cream just had the proudest smile in her entire life, and she continued to snoop just for that. Tails had successfully made it about 3 feet away from Cream and kept on gesturing her to come back, but she only looked back at him angrily and shooed him off with her hand and continued to spy. He mumbled to himself and leaned against the wall and sat there, not too distant from her but enough to not be able to reach towards her.
"But I feel really bad for Tails though..."
At that instant, Tails' ears perked up and instinctively began to listen to the conversation as well. Cream looked back at him and smiled while pointing towards their direction. 'Geez, well isn't that just my perfect timing...' he thought to himself sarcastically.
"He really doesn't have anybody to fall back on, like Cream and I have been able to since our runaway. Makes me wonder how he can actually live with the silence and not collapse completely. He has before, but I don't blame him. I mean, he's 2nd youngest of the bunch and yet our leader to our survival. I feel terrible that even though Cream and I do our best to be independent and help along, we just seem to add more stress on him. Poor guy, he's matured much more though, but at the hefty cost of his childhood. He was made an adult without choice, and without a good influence to fall back on either."
Tails felt an overwhelming feeling in his chest. The reminder of his harsh path always got to him, because he did want to make his own decisions, but never like that. It was fine when he found his style with technology to help rid of Eggman, but at least he was still helping Sonic. He never meant wanting Sonic's responsibility of critical decisions between life and death to himself or others he truly cared for. Was that the reason why he can't seem to get along with others anymore? Has he really changed that much? And for that, he retracted himself into thought again, completely oblivious to any more of their discussion.
"Amy?"
"Yes?"
"Well, I've been meaning to ask this, but I didn't want to upset you or anything. Why do you have that thing stamped in your quill?"
"Thing? Oh you mean this?" She rubbed her hand against her quill. "That's an easy one!" She quickly looks at Sonic joyfully. "It's a tattoo, actually. I got it done in one of the villages not too far away from here. I did it because it symbolizes Trinity. The sun, moon, and stars coincide with our earth, and they all work as one. Tails, Cream, and I all worked as one to come this far as well, so I had it tattooed on me to show respect for the universe as well as for our encouragement to continue to strive."
"Well, it really fits you. I like it."
"Thanks. Glad you do." She said with a giggle.
"Did you ever expect me to wake up?"
She stayed silent.
"Wow, that's a big change of subject……honestly......I thought you weren't. I was prepared for the worst, even though I had the biggest crush on you—"
"I knew that..." Sonic muttered as he rolled his eyes.
"Hey! I have the right to have crushes with whoever whenever, and you do too!"
"I know, I know, but I had you and Sally and Mina all following my tracks, kinda got a bit tedious, you know?"
"Sonic, you're an idiot." She said jokingly, softly punching him in the shoulder.
"What? How does that make me an idiot?"
"Actually...take that back. I was the idiot. What made me think that I could actually spend some time with you when you were living your own life and tending to other's safety?"
"Well, everyone now hates my guts and think that I'm dead, soo...Hey, uh...well, this is kinda funny to ask right now, but...do you still...you know? Well, let me put it this way. Are you at least happy that I'm finally back home?"
"I'm actually mixed about all of this..."
"Oh? And how so?"
"Let me put it this way, at least. I'm glad you're back to normal, and not your crazy self like after you came back from that coma. But during that time...I felt really bad that you were not yourself anymore, and it wasn't just because I missed you. I remember those nights, when I would see Sally try to cover up her tears after she would read Tails a bedtime story. I would watch Mina too, across my window, and she would just rest against a tree and sob. It was there really that I stopped paying attention to what I was missing, but to the fact that others were left alone in the dark too because of love."
"Well now from what I hear from Tails, they're better off without—"
"Love is disgusting," she continued. Her mind was already set in that topic. "It can bring even the wisest of men down to shame. Besides, crushes are called crushes for a reason; they're meant to be crushed. I should've known that, but I didn't. I was blinded by foolishness and 'hope'—that's the one killer, 'hope'. When I realized that hope was the reason why we were all doomed was when I accepted that you weren't coming back. Watching the others crumble under the pressure and loneliness due to 'hope' helped me realize that. This was like our punishment by some mean. Not only of us only relying on you to take care of everything, but also kinda like if neither Sally or Mina, heck or even me, could be with you, then none of us could. But now that you're here sitting right next to me, I feel bad that I passed this cruel test. It hurts just knowing that none of the other girls could live to see the day that you would finally return. But nonetheless, I'm glad it's me who could finally see you again."
Sonic just stared at Amy with a blank face and then smiled. "That's a good one. Your crushes quote, I like that."
"Well, it IS the truth!" she said abruptly.
"I'm not contradicting what you said or anything, I know from first hand that it is the truth."
"Oh REALLY?" she said with a hand to her hip. "I wouldn't mind hearing your version of how you just so happen to know that!"
"Oh boy..." He rested his hand upon his forehead. "Do you really want to know?"
"Yes, I DO want to know, tell me now, Sonic the Hedgehog!" Amy then pointed a finger at him only a few millimeters away from his nose, which actually sent Sonic to a sweatdrop.
"Well, I guess you can say that it was a dream, but I refuse to believe that—it was so real...you probably wouldn't understand—"
"Try me."
He looked at her, but was completely unsure as to how she was actually going to take it. But hell, it was worth a try. With a heavy sigh, Sonic finally opened his mouth slightly.
WAUGHH!!
"What the heck?" They both said simultaneously and finally stood up.
Ruby fell backwards in shock and fell dizzy as she thought that the smiley just screamed at her. But as the two hedgehogs ran towards the noise, they soon found out that it was actually Cake, wailing at the top of his little lungs.
"Cake, come back here! You're gonna ruin our cover, what's wrong?" Cream said in a loud whisper, trying to stay in her spot but was reaching out towards Cake.
GYAAAAAH! The frantic chao screamed as he ran around waving his arms. Then the little spider got a hold of Cake's arm and started crawling there. He tried to brush off the harmless spider off by running into a tree.
"Cake, come over here let me…help...you.......uh oh..." she said to a stagger as she began to see two shadows covering the only light she had. Cream then slowly turned around and faced a confused Sonic and a ticked-off Amy, resulting her to have a drop in her stomach. Tails then flew into sight and grabbed Cake in midair and brushed off the little spider, sending Cake into an instant dance in Tails' arms.
"Uhh...I can explain everything, I swear!" she said nervously.
"Cream the Rabbit. Were you just listening over our conversation and spying on us?"
"But, but..." she staggered as she also pointed to Tails, who had landed on the ground releasing Cake and stared back at the three. She then gave up and lowered her head and faced the ground. "Yes..."
Amy then jumped off the ledge landing right next to Cream. She still looked at the clean-cut grass nuzzling right against her tennis shoes, focusing on the shoe's detail rather than at Amy. Then Amy patted her in the shoulder.
"It's alright, there was nothing really secret to hide, but don't do it again, you hear?"
She then sprung back to her happy self. "Okay! I won't do it ever ever ever ever ever ever ever eve—"
"Please stop that."
"Ever, ever again!" she ended with a grin. "Girl, you're crazy," Amy said while giggling. "I know, isn't it lovely?" Cream said in a corny British accent. Amy rolled her eyes.
"Hey, did you two meet already?" She asked pointing at both of them.
"Who, me and Cream?" Sonic asked.
"Yeah, we already did, it's nice to see you again!" she said while waving at him from up above, and he waved back. Amy also looked at him with a smile.
At that moment, Sonic then turned around and began to head straight towards Tails. Once he met up with him, they both looked at the faint spider struggling to find a big enough hole in the rocky wall, even though the moon was about to rest once again deep below the sea.
"Why aren't we killing it?" Tails said while still staring at it.
"I dunno. I'm not killing it, there's no point. Well, we could, but what are we accomplishing? Besides, I think I'm done having to deal with death for now, and I don't want a reminder that I killed something under my shoe deliberately."
"Hmm, guess you're right."
Then almost instantly the spider found a big enough hole, and with no hesitation quickly scrambled inside, hoping to never to be seen again.
"You know, I'm curious. What the hell did you talk about that took so damn long anyways?"
"You know, I'm curious too. When the hell did you begin to curse so damn much anyways?"
"Shut up." Tails glared at him but with a friendly smirk. "But can you answer my question?"
"Nothing you don't know about. After we calmed down from all of the 'drama', I mostly heard about your journey to make it all the way over here. Man, you three really did suffer out there, didn't ya? Bet lasting 3 days eating nothing but earthworms wasn't a very delightful thing, was it?"
"Ugh, don't remind me!" Tails exclaimed putting his hand over his mouth. "Amy kept on vomiting and Cream didn't eat at all. She fell extremely weak afterwards because of lack of nutrients too, but there was nothing we could do as we were completely out of food and she just wouldn't dare touch them, let alone put them in her mouth!"
"She told me about that too. Least all of you made it through."
"Yup, gotta be thankful for that."
"Now I see what Amy meant."
"What? What do you mean?" Tails asked although he had heard quite well about what he was talking about.
"She also mentioned that ever since you left Knothole, you've been only paying attention to others and your work and never to yourself."
"Hey, you guys? It's getting kinda late, so we're gonna head back to the garage. You coming?" Amy said when she finally approached the two.
"Yeah, we'll be in the cart in a sec." Tails turned around to say. Amy winked at the two and headed towards the mine cart. Cream and Cake soon followed suit after Cake decided to keep a close eye for any more spiders that could possibly land on him again while walking. Tails just continued to just stand there. Sonic then gave a soft punch to Tails' shoulder.
"Don't worry about anything now alright? I'll help you from now on. You definitely need a good break from what I've heard so far."
Tails let out a short giggle. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm not cutting back on any repairs or anything like that if that's what you mean."
"If fixing or making things make you happy, then it's fine with me. Just as long as you're able to relax for once."
"You should already know my answer to that last statement, so don't worry if I'm in the garage by next morning." Then they both began to head out to the mine cart.
"BUT! Then again, you're the one who made a mess out of my garage in the first place with you breaking out of your life-support capsule and everything, so YOU have to clean it up!"
"WHAT?!?"
"You don't want me stressed out anymore, do ya? Well, sweeping and mopping doesn't help relieve anxiety you know..."
Sonic then glared at him and mumbled to himself.
"HAHA! Another score for me!" Tails exclaimed while jerking his arm as if he was blowing the whistle of a train.
"Hey, that's an exception, but I'm not cleaning up for any messes that you make, agreed?" Sonic said while pointing his index finger at him.
"Agreed."
"Tails? Why does it always seem as if you like to get the upper hand out of me?" He stated sounding tentatively.
"Because it's nice to finally poke fun at other people without them getting too offended. NAH! I'm just playing. I dunno, I never really looked at it that way. I hope I'm not getting you ticked off for that too, am I?"
"No you're not....least, not REALLY..."
"Well, I'll stop it then. Never meant it that way, so sorry 'bout that."
"Apology accepted, and I'll be cleaning up the mess tomorrow when I get the chance."
They both then forced themselves inside the cart with all of them literally huddled and cramped up right against each other due to the fact that the cart wasn't meant to carry 5 people (that's including the chaos). And with a tug and a pull, the continuous whining ceased and the cart finally was able to budge from its spot, and slowly creep its way back through the cave it once came from.
Whew. Sadly, the next chapter might take a while, because now I have to actually write an 800+ word essay about comparing a book to the world today…grrrr…oh well. If you like or appreciate my story so far, R&R! Heehee, the joy of persisting people; no wonder why so many do it. :P Oh yeah, my next chapter will introduce….wait for it….Rouge! Yes, a plotline will be developing, so don't give up all of your hopes yet! J
