Chapter Forty-One: Here With Me

The last thing I remember is Amy's closing eyes. I scream her name over and over again. I tighten my grip on her hand. But then my world goes dark too. When it comes back, the scene replays again.

This can't be real. I need to wake up. Is Amy okay? I need to wake up and make sure she's okay.

Amy. Amy. Amy.

"AMY!" Sonic shouted, shooting upward.

A gentle hand pushed against his chest. "Sh…it's all right," she said.

Sonic snapped his eyes to her face. His gasping cut off completely at the sight of her.

Angel.

"It's okay," she whispered, pushing Sonic back down in bed. "You're on the Blue Typhoon, and you'll be on Mobius soon."

"Angel," Sonic breathed. "Angel, where's Amy?"

Angel gestured with her head to the right of Sonic. When he twisted his head to follow the gesture, he saw Amy Rose lying in a bed right next to his own. Amy's eyes were closed, but Sonic could see her chest rising and falling with each breath. "The fake Chaos Energy erupted over all of you. Without the Chaos Emeralds to protect you, it would have killed you all," Angel explained. "Knuckles is lucky he got out of there before it got bad."

"Then Tails and—"

"Shh," Angel said again, placing her hand on Sonic's chest once more. It's frantic rising and falling made him realize he was hyperventilating. "All of you were knocked out, yes. Only you and Shadow are awake as of yet. The rest should wake up as their bodies recover from the fake Energy, and that depends on how used to Chaos Energy they are. It could be a few more days before the others wake up."

"Days?" Sonic exclaimed. "How long have I been out?"

Angel smiled. "A little less than two days, but that's okay."

"And the Metarex?"

"Gone," Angel confirmed. "The five of you did it. Maybe not without a scratch but without death, and that's impressive enough."

'Without death.' Sonic's breath slowed, and finally he was able to process more than panic.

Angel.

Angel who no longer existed as a mortal creature but as a Time Whisperer.

His eyes locked on Angel's, and he took her in for the first time since she began her existence outside of time. She looked…the same. Blonde hair of Nova streaked with Sonic-blue. Simple gray dress paired with blue sneakers and sparkling wings to match. But her bright eyes, ready to drink in the world and all the adventures it had to offer, those were changed. They were calmer, taking the world in with a patience Sonic couldn't imagine. "Angel, you're—"

"I'm here, yes," she whispered. "It's nice to see you again, Dad."

Sonic smiled in spite of himself. "You look different…older."

Angel's smile widened into a grin. "I am. Can't really say how much, but…I've definitely been around."

Sonic's smile faded again. "Angel, listen, I'm—"

"Don't," Angel said, cutting him off. "Don't say you're sorry, don't ever apologize for this. As much as you and Mom made a big deal about the hard choice you had to make, the choice had already been made when I chose to go back in time and change my past." Angel turned to look at Amy. She smiled at her, as though Amy were her gently sleeping child. "And I've never regretted it. Not even for a second."

Sonic reached out to take Angel's hand. As much as he wanted to sit up, he knew Angel would just push him back down again. So holding her hand would have to do. "You're okay though, right? And happy?"

Angel nodded. "More than happy." She pulled her hand back and got to her feet. She started to walk away, and Sonic took the chance to push himself upright. On the other side of the infirmary lay the unconscious forms of Tails and Nova. A fifth bed had the sheets torn down but was empty. Sonic pulled his eyes away and watched Angel wander over to the window.

After a moment, Angel spun back around to face him, her dress twirling around her. A smirk lit up her face that seemed far more familiar on her face. Perhaps because it mirrored the smirk that often appeared on Sonic's face. She exclaimed, "Think of all the adventures you can take when you have all the time in the world! When you can travel through time and space to have them!"

Sonic returned her grin. His heart lightened to see a familiar expression on Angel's face. But then, like the flick of a light switch, Angel's grin disappeared. Her eyes snapped to Amy's face. Sonic looked between the two of them. "What is it? What's wrong?" he asked.

"I'm needed elsewhere," she said evenly. Sonic couldn't read her expression.

"Is Amy okay? Why are you looking at her like that?"

"Yes, she will be. But I have to go." Before Sonic could protest again, Angel vanished. He blinked, and she was gone.

And that was when the heart rate monitor next to Amy's bed flat lined.

-X-X-X-

Amy's View

Amy's eyes opened to a world she did not recognize. While the floor beneath her was solid, it wasn't exactly there. She sat up to see the world around her was identical to the not-quite floor. White and glossy, like she existed in something that…wasn't real.

Amy pushed herself to her feet and spun around, looking for anything that wasn't empty and white. Was all this a dream?

"Not quite."

Amy spun around. Where once had been emptiness now stood Angel. "Angel?" Amy whispered. "What are you—can you hear my thoughts?"

"Some, yes," Angel replied calmly. She stood still, fingers interlocked in front of her. "And as I said, this isn't really a dream."

Amy frowned, stepping toward her. Angel didn't so much as flinch. "What is it if it isn't a dream?"

"You're between space, a place usually only accessible to Time Whisperers," Angel explained.

Amy halted. "I'm…between space? Wait, does that mean I'm dead?"

Angel shook her head. Angel's calm only sent Amy's heart racing as frustration built in her chest. "You're not dead," Angel said. "Not yet."

"What?!"

"I'm here to help you make the choice," Angel continued calmly.

"I want to live!" Amy exclaimed.

Angel frowned, and her arms fell back to her sides. "If the answer were that simple, you wouldn't be here. Nor would I."

Amy opened her mouth to protest, but the words died in her throat. The pieces fell into place. She understood why Angel was there specifically, not C2. "If I die here, you might still exist."

Angel closed the space between them. "It's your turn to have the choice. No dramatics, no coincidences, just your own choice."

Amy shook her head, slowly, in disbelief at first, then resolutely. "I can't, I can't do this again."

"I can make the decision easy for you, if you want."

"How?"

Angel grabbed Amy's hands and smiled. "I want to be a Time Whisperer."

Amy narrowed her eyes, not quite believing Angel but not saying anything. Angel sighed. "Okay, so I get why you're doubtful. But I don't think you understand how much…sense all this makes to me. Seriously, I'm a fairy and a hedgehog. How does that work? Child of two worlds isn't as fun as it sounds.

"But that's not really the point. The universe is really funny sometimes, and things only make sense in the weirdest way. My name, for example. 'Angel' always made me think of a guardian angel. That's what a Time Whisperer is, kind of. And who says coincidence can't mean fate? I think I'm meant to be here."

"Are you sure you were ever Sonic's daughter?" Amy asked. "Fate's not really something he's ever believed in. He likes to make his own."

Angel laughed. "That's for sure. But you forget that I had a mom with a culture that believed in destiny. Not to mention being a Time Whisperer confirms that destiny can exist, to a point."

Amy crossed her arms against her chest and looked away, not that there was anything to look at. "Then if the decision's so easy, why does it have to be made?" Amy asked.

"Because you're dying, Amy, right now," Angel said. Amy's eyes snapped back to Angel in an instant, but Angel no longer met her gaze. "It's an easy logical choice, but this isn't about logic. This is about you. You have to want to live."

"But I don't understand!" Amy cried. "Why wouldn't I want to live?"

"It's not why you wouldn't; it's why you would."

Amy froze. Why she wants to live? For Sonic, sure, but this wasn't a competition for his heart. That war had long been won. Her nightmare made her fear losing Sonic, but her life had to be more than that. And Angel made it clear she wasn't holding Amy back.

The light around Amy brightened until it burned her eyes. She knew her time was almost up. Living wasn't a default option this time. It should be, but it was more than that. It was a choice. Everything was a choice.

And Amy made hers.

-X-X-X-

Sonic's View

"AMY!" Sonic shouted again, as if his voice alone would draw her away from the light.

His mind, for once, could not keep up. He couldn't remember what you do when someone's heart stops. Chris was on his way, but would he be fast enough?

Sonic sat there uselessly, alternately looking at Amy's still body and the line on the monitor. He needed to do something, but there was nothing he could. His worst nightmare.

Beep…beep…beep.

And then as Sonic stared, as Sonic heard, the line was no longer flat. Even as he stared, his mind refused to make sense of what he saw. Amy's chest started rising and falling once more, as if nothing had happened. The possibility that she was alive seemed…

Chris slid into the room, and Sonic didn't look away from Amy for an instant. "Her heart's beating again," he said but not like he made the choice to speak. His body chose to speak without his mind's permission.

"Did you do CPR?" Chris asked.

Sonic shook his head, making a mental note to use CPR in the future. "It just…restarted on its own."

"Well, she is a fighter. She does things on her own terms," Chris said. He stepped up to Amy's bed and shot a smile Sonic's way.

"That's one way to put it," Sonic replied. He fell back against his bed and waited for his own heart to start beating at a normal pace.

-(-)-

"Even you need to sleep."

Sonic pulled his eyes away from Amy and blinked blearily up at Nova. She was more pale than usual, but otherwise conscious and upright. It made sense, her being awake sooner than Amy, but it only made Sonic more impatient to see Amy open her eyes. "I'm okay," Sonic murmured, turning back to Amy.

"'Okay' isn't the word I'd choose," Nova replied. "Amy's going to be okay. You most certainly are not okay right now."

"You know me," Sonic replied with a heavy sigh. "I'm not all that patient."

"It's not going to be that much longer," Nova said. She leaned against the end of Amy's bed. "The rest of us are awake so she will be soon."

"And I'll be right here."

Nova sighed, shaking her head. "It's funny. I've heard the stories, how Amy spent her whole life chasing after you while you just ran away. And now, you can't leave her side for a second."

"Torture changes you," Sonic said bitterly.

"So does love."

Without another word, Nova pushed herself up and left the infirmary behind. But her words stopped Sonic short. He'd seen Nova's nightmare, knew she too had faced torture at the hands of the Metarex. Maybe she was right. Maybe the Metarex hadn't changed him. Maybe Amy had.

"Sonic?"

Her voice. His name on her tongue.

A dream. A prayer. An utter impossibility.

But true.

Sonic's heart leapt from his chest to his throat. He looked down to see Amy's eyes directed up at him. Sonic grinned. He used the grin to strengthen the shaking in his limbs, to hide the dangerous itch in his eyes. "I was starting to think I'd never see you with your eyes open again."

"Me too," Amy muttered. She sat upright, clutching her stomach with one hand. "Angel told me I was dying."

"You were—" Sonic stopped short. "Wait, Angel?"

Amy nodded. "I got stuck in-between, and she told I had to choose this time."

Sonic narrowed his eyes. He wished he could ignore the way his hands shook. "I don't…"

Amy smiled and took Sonic's shaking hands, despite the fact that she was the one in bed. "I realized I'd been looking at this wrong, the whole time. It wasn't me or Nova, or even me or Angel. I had to decide why I was alive."

"Uh…"

"We're alive without choice, which is as it should be," Amy continued. "But I think I agree with Angel when she says we have a fate, a reason to be here. And I'd spent so much time thinking you were the reason I was here. But you're not."

Sonic's cheeks heated up, thinking how only moments ago he realized how much he loved Amy. Talk about role reversal. But Amy pulled Sonic's hands toward her. "I'm not here because of you but because I love you."

Sonic tilted his head back up to her, and he saw Amy smiling at him as brightly as ever. "I don't have to compete for your attention like I thought I had to with Angel and Nova. It doesn't change how much I love you."

Amy leaned in and pressed her lips against Sonic's without further invitation. Sonic's eyes widened in shock, but he quickly closed them. When they parted, Amy pressed her forehead against Sonic's. "I'm alive because I love you, and only I have the power to change that."

"I love you," Sonic breathed. Only then did he realize how infrequently he said those words. And how much more they meant because of it. A grin spread across Amy's face, and it made Sonic's heart race faster than he'd ever run.