Later that night, Sonic sat on his bed, the door to his room ajar. Amy sat next to him, leaning tiredly against his shoulder. Shadow still hadn't come back from his trip with Sally. Today marked the first bit of down time they'd really had since they'd recovered, and they were both exhausted after catching up with people. The crew was doing alright, Tangle and Whisper had been helping out a lot during their absence, and Silver and Blaze were about to head back to Soleanna tomorrow. But this was the first moment Sonic had had to just be. To sit and think.

"What did Infinite show you?" Amy asked, breaking the silence. Her voice was small, tentative. She shifted to lay her head on Sonic's thigh. Sonic pretended he was used to this–though this was the first time she'd laid on his lap like this and his heartbeat spiked for just a moment–and gently ran his fingers through her quills.

He took a moment to gather his thoughts. "He killed you," he said, his voice shaking just a little. "All of you. And I couldn't even see any of you. Shadow just… He appeared, he was really hurt, and… He said you and Sonia were dead. And then… He died." He took a breath. "He really likes to do that," he said. "It wasn't the first time, but somehow… it was the worst."

Amy hummed in thought, then wrapped her arms around him. "Well, it wasn't real," she said. "We're okay." But she sounded hesitant, as if she wasn't entirely sure it was true.

"What about you?" Sonic asked gently.

Amy was quiet for a moment. "He didn't… He didn't do that with me exactly," she said. "It's a little fuzzy. It seemed like he kind of… put me somewhere else. I wasn't in the palace. I was in the house where I grew up."

Sonic frowned. "That's weird," he said.

"That's not all," Amy said. "My father…" She sighed. "I just realized I've never really told you anything about my childhood, have I?"

Sonic shook his head, and she continued. "I grew up in the castle town. My father owned a bakery there, and at one point he was even the royal baker. My mother used to help him before they had me, and I was young enough when we started making more money that I can't even remember a time when there weren't servants bustling around the house. But…" she turned to look up at Sonic. "Did you ever hear about the petrification sickness?" Amy asked.

"Actually, yeah," Sonic said. "I got it, I was around thirteen I think. It was awful, I was lucky we were able to find a witch before it was too late."

"How far did it get?" Amy asked.

Sonic shuddered at the memory. "It had almost covered my entire body," he said. "But I mean, I was pretty lucky. You know Bunnie, right? That's how she lost her legs. They amputated them before it could spread to the rest of her."

Amy hummed in thought for a moment. "Where did you grow up?" she finally asked.\

"On the outskirts of the castle town," Sonic replied. "My uncle was a blacksmith."

Amy's eyes widened, and she pulled away to look at him. "I didn't realize we were so close," she said. Then she squinted at Sonic's face, earning a confused look. "Wait… I think… You used to come in with… Charles, was it?"

Sonic's eyes widened. "Yeah!" he exclaimed. "Yeah, I'd tag along with Uncle Chuck on his errands. Sometimes he'd buy me a treat at the bakery." He gasped softly. "I remember seeing you hiding behind the owner one time. You were staring at me."

Amy blushed. "I remember that too. Congratulations on being my first crush I guess. I honestly can't believe I didn't recognize you when you ended up on the ship."

"I don't blame you," Sonic said. "I used to wear glasses, and my fur was a lighter blue."

Amy raised an eyebrow. "Why don't you wear glasses now?" she asked.

"Because I hated them," Sonic said matter-of-factly. "Anyway, we're getting off-track. You were talking about the petrification sickness?"

Amy's smile faded. "Right," she said. "Well, my father got it. I was twelve, and…" She took a breath. "Infinite brought me back to the moment he died. He put that on loop… but then… then it turned into Shadow that was dying. Just… slowly being taken over and he looked so scared and… I tried…" Amy took another shaky breath. "I tried to heal him… I tried everything but it just… wouldn't work." Tears stood in her eyes, trickling down her cheeks as she closed her eyes. "It was starting to show you when you woke me up."

Sonic leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead, and she reached her arms up to pull him into a hug. "We're okay now," Sonic said, echoing the words he'd said to his siblings hours before. "We're all okay."

Amy nodded against his shoulder, and he continued to hold her, swaying back and forth just a little bit until she relaxed in his arms. She buried her face in his chest, and he let her try to calm herself. She smelled faintly of roses still, the scent soothing. He felt himself relaxing with her as tears fell down his cheeks. It was as if floodgates had been opened, and he felt a release of pent-up pressure as he hugged Amy tightly.

A little while later, a soft knock sounded at the door, and Shadow nudged it open, his eyes immediately widening in concern until Sonic gave him a reassuring smile and he relaxed visibly. "How'd it go?" Sonic asked, and Amy peeked her head out to look at Shadow as he came over and sat on her other side.

Shadow sighed. "It went fine, it was just tedious looking through an unstaffed private library," he said. "The palace was almost completely empty."

Sonic huffed as he wiped his eyes. "Yeah, that tracks," he said. "There was an army of angry mobians running through the castle."

They lapsed into silence for a bit until Shadow reached into the satchel he'd been carrying at his hip and procured some candied fruits as well as a book. "I thought you two might like these," he said, handing the candies to Sonic and Amy, the latter of which had come out of hiding and took the fruit with a watery smile.

"Thank you," Amy said as she took a bite. Sonic took his with a nod and a smile, leaning over and kissing Shadow on the cheek. Shadow reached a hand out to stroke Amy's quills, and she started purring softly.

Shadow held the book out to Sonic. "I brought this back for you. You said you wanted information on Angel Island, right?"

Sonic nodded and took the book, brows crinkling in confusion when he realized it was a story book. He looked back at Shadow. "Was this all you could find?" he asked.

Shadow nodded. "There was nothing in geography or history about it," he said, "but I found that and remembered Maria mentioning Angel Island once, referring to that book."

Sonic looked at the book again and felt his hopes deflate a little. How could he even begin to help Tikal if Angel Island wasn't a real place?

"Chaos, please! Don't hurt them, they've done nothing wrong!" Tikal screamed again. That same watery monster reared its head with an ear splitting roar. Sonic fell once again into the flood waters, struggling to come up to breathe. But this time, someone else was there too.

Kintobor stood on a high ledge, the cliff level with the monster's lower jaw, holding a shining jewel in his hand, cackling at the destruction. And behind him loomed a dark figure, naught but a shadow with horns and glowing yellow eyes. Kintobor raised the jewel high and the monster roared again before striking at Sonic. "Please," pleaded Tikal. "Help."

Sonic woke in a cold sweat, rousing his partners with him. They'd all elected to sleep in his room for the night, Amy in the middle of the bed between him and Shadow. Sonic sat up quickly, taking deep, shaky breaths. Shadow woke first and reached across Amy to touch his shoulder, startling him. "Hey," Shadow said, his voice soft, calming. "What's wrong?"

"Another dream," Sonic said, his heart still pounding as he exhaled shakily, his quills crossed in fear. How had Kintobor been in the dream? Where was he?

Sonic got out of bed, trying to relax his quills as he grabbed the book Shadow had given him off of the nightstand. He brought it over to the window, struggling to make out what it said in the thin moonlight.

Shadow came over. "What are you–?"

"Read this for me, please," Sonic said. "Whatever you can find on Angel Island."

Shadow frowned, but he obliged, taking the book from Sonic and flipping through the pages carefully. A few minutes later, he stopped, handing the book back to Sonic and reading over his shoulder.

"Winding through the caverns, hiding with the crystals, lay a treasure beyond measure.

Creatures long-gone, water beasts sealed away, sleeping tight.

Take the bridge to the sky, and there lies

The Island in the Sky."

Sonic's face fell, and his shoulders slumped. "There's no way it's real…" he said. "She's telling me to do something impossible."

They were both silent for a moment, the only sound in the room Amy's soft, even breathing behind them. Then….

"Wait," Sonic whispered. "In my dream, just now, Kintobor… He was there. That… The place she's been showing me must be Angel Island!"

Shadow shushed him, and he quickly lowered his voice as Amy stirred behind him, settling back into sleep again quickly. "She's been showing me Angel Island in my dreams!" he hissed. "And this time Kintobor was there and… and…" That monster had been unleashed.

Sonic looked at his boyfriend, eyes wide, and Shadow must have understood because his expression mirrored Sonic's. "Kintobor's on Angel Island," Sonic said.

To be continued...

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Don't worry, I do have a sequel planned, but that probably won't go up until late December or early January. But I hope you've enjoyed this story as much as I have, and I'll see y'all again soon! Love y'all and have a wonderful day! ^^