A/N – I know it's about as far from Christmas as it's possible to get but I'm keeping within the timeline of my other two fics.
Chapter 1 – Christmas is Coming.
She ran.
Down, through the gaping maw that opened before her, swallowing her effortlessly as she ran to her goal, where she needed to be, where she needed to go. Down, down into the darkness she raced, not seeing the ground she trod upon but knowing her way instinctively. The way was forwards and down, down, incessantly down, into the bowels of the world and the unplumbed depths of the earth, pursuing her innermost need with no heed to other concerns. She was closing, the bale glow of victory awaited, around the corner shone a welcoming red light but her feet caught and she fell down, through the darkness…
With a startled cry, Amy Rose sat up straight in bed, turbulent mind still encased in the dream that had seemed so real, causing her arms to shoot up and break her fall. She tensed herself for an impact that never arrived, peeking open one eye after a second of bracing, expecting to see hard ground rushing up to meet her. The sight of a dimly illuminated pink wall came as something of a surprise, as did the fact that she was already sat down on a comfortable bed, her light rose sheets scattered around due to her sudden struggling movements. As she reasserted herself she cast a glance at the alarm clock – 5:02. Amy let out a groan as she flopped back down onto her pillow; she still had two hours to go before her alarm went off but she wouldn't sleep again tonight. She ran her hands over her face and decided she was already awake; no point staying in bed. Kicking off the blanket fully, however, proved to be a mistake; the pink hedgehog barely managed to hold back a squeak of shock as the icy air in her bedroom enshrouded her. I need to put the heating on; gradually and shivering all the way, Amy managed to drag herself upright and out of bed, reaching for her dressing gown and quickly pulling it over her shoulders as insulation against the freezing air – it was a wonder she couldn't see her own frosty breath in front of her.
Right, on three…three! With a rapid pounding of feet Amy sprinted across the lino of her hallway, the soles of her bare toes bitterly complaining that they were being forced to touch an ice rink. Holding towel in one hand and clothes and shoes in the other, it was an agonising five seconds of desperate hopping before she could manoeuvre one hand to open the door to the bathroom and dance inside, feet breathing a sigh of relief as they came into contact with the deep carpet. Turning the heat up a notch or two, Amy pressed the on button of her shower and, after testing the water with one hand, jumped right into the artificial waterfall of heated water.
As she reached for the shampoo the rose hedgehog frowned slightly; it was the same dream that had woken her twice already. I'm running, and I feel like I'm going down at the same time, but towards what? That was the one piece of the puzzle Amy didn't know, but then again, that was the first time she'd ever seen that red glow at the end of the tunnel. As she hit the off button for the jet and grabbed the towel from of the radiator, Amy mused what it could mean – she wasn't one of these people who believed in dreams pointing the way to your destiny but she understood that waking up for the same reason three times smacked of something. After slipping her dress over her shoulder, she took a quick glance in the mirror and immediately reached for the hairbrush before her quills succeed in their aim of making her look like a gorgon; luckily they hadn't knotted up during her sleep and fell back into line with a minimum of fuss. When she was ready she reached for the last, and most recent, addition to her normal, everyday clothing.
The tiny stud gleamed dully in the light as she carefully lifted it up to her left ear, gingerly inserting it into the piercing slit without pricking the delicate skin of her inner ear and more importantly not dropping it again. She remembered the last time that had happened and the desperate scramble she'd had trying to catch it before it escaped down the sink plughole, a reluctant smile pulling at her lips as she remembered what Sonic had said about that little episode. Her piercing was recent and discreet; it wasn't a bold fashion statement or anything of that nature, it was just done because she was curious and as a present on her sixteenth birthday, only a few months before in October. It had stung for a few days but she'd kept it clean and it luckily hadn't become infected; by the end of the week she'd nervously and self-consciously shown her new ear stud to Shadow as he'd run up to her in the park.
"Hey Ames, how are you doing?"
"Um, fine thanks, what about you?"
"I'm cool and so's Sonic, we're both looking forwards...", he leant towards her, peering downwards at her left ear, "is, is that a piercing?" Amy went red as her namesake and examined the floor as she replied,
"Yeah, I had it done on my sixteenth", she glanced up to see a calculating look on the ultimate life-form's face, "like it?"
"It's certainly different", he conceded before smiling, his red eyes glinting at her as he gently flicked her unpierced ear, "I think it suits you". She smiled back; the instrument of her revenge approaching fast from the stern of her friend.
"And something that suits you is heading our way"; she sniggered as Shadow glanced over his shoulder, looked back and then did a fantastic double-take before yelping and leaping behind her, hands on her shoulders and thrusting her forwards as a Mobian shield.
"Take the girl, take the girl but spare me!"
"You coward" Amy chuckled as the massive dog skidded to a halt at her feet and barked, sounding like all the world like a depth charge exploding as it pranced in front of her, trying to reach the elusive Shadow as he cringed away from the might of Akki.
"Good dog", Amy scratched the Akita's muzzle as he sat down, waiting for his master to appear and, sure enough, the rose hedgehog could see the familiar short shape of Cinnamon running towards them, lead in on hand and shouting the name of her pet out loud.
She shook her head out of the memory and returned, somewhat grudgingly, to the present; she was dressed and ready but now needed something to eat and drink. Into the kitchen she meandered, flicking on the kettle as she reached up to open one of her cupboards. Just her luck to have the early shift this week when she couldn't sleep…
A short while later, a very familiar blue hedgehog was walking down one of Station Square's many roads towards the local mall. Yes, he was walking; he wished it were otherwise but if painful experience had taught him one thing it was that supersonic speeds and black ice really don't mix. Sonic wasn't a massive fan of winter due to all the snow and ice that stopped him running, but he tolerated it because of one thing; Christmas. Not the presents and all the decorations, although they were nice; he liked Christmas because it was one of the only times of the year the whole gang got together for a celebration; heck, even Knuckles would abandon his precious Emerald for a single day to be with them all. Speaking of which…Sonic fingered a small piece of paper and eventually drew it out into the light, squinting at it as he remembered what his mission of the day was. It was a list of names, most of which had ticks by the side of them but, to his mind, the important ones didn't have those ticks yet. Hence why I'm up this early; the blue wonder mentally reminded himself – he needed to buy and wrap Shadow's present before the black hedgehog got back for the Mystic Ruins, where he was currently being occupied by Tails and a mysterious glitch in the Tornado. Sonic smiled as he remembered the whispered conversation he'd had with his younger brother to take the black hedgehog out of the picture; the fact that he'd also buy Tails' present as well was just an added bonus.
"Hello, may I help you?"
"Sure, just ring this up for me please love", the human reached into his coat pocket as Amy quickly ran the items in the basket through the scanner, doing the mental maths to make sure the machine was totting the cost up right as she went along. Having loaded the food and newspaper into the plastic bags the hedgehog faced her customer.
"That's £12.46 please". The man held out a pair of bills, saying shortly,
"Four pence in the charity box please", she glanced up, "it's Christmas after all". Amy's nimble fingers ran through the cash box and hastily gripped the correct amount of change, slotting a pair of two pence pieces in the bright blue charity box. The human took his bags as she smiled at him,
"Thank you very much sir and a merry Christmas".
"And you". With that he was gone and Amy glanced over at the remainder of the shop. Ah great, a bit of a lull; the Mobian hopped off the box she stood on to enable her to see over the counter she was servicing and stretched her legs a little.
"Hey Si, give us a shout if…"
"Sure thing Ames", the teenager she shared the counter duty with gave a broad grin; as a new recruit to the store she was supposed to be at the till every minute of every hour but one of the first things you learned in this trade was how to sneak in a two second break. Amy smiled to herself – Si, or Simon as the boss insisted on calling him, was an ideal partner in crime due to his experience in these disreputable matters. The human had been at this job since he was Amy's age, saving up the cash necessary to get himself a car when he turned nineteen. She liked him because he was an easy going guy who knew the ropes and didn't mind doing a bit extra for her, just like she didn't mind shouldering a bit of his burden if he was having an off-day.
"Pie?" Si offered a mince pie from the small tray he had hidden under his cash register. Amy broke one in half and munched on it gratefully, giving him a sly wink as she ducked down, looking for the infamous 'rogue 2p'. Si finished his half and faced forwards again; next thing Amy knew there was an urgent whisper out the corner of his mouth.
"Quick, Chocky". Amy gulped down the rest of her mince pie with indecent haste as and straightened up just as Mr Cadbury, owner and proprietor of the Quick Stop Shop, edged into view. As Amy lifted herself onto the box that allowed her to see the rest of the store she raised her head into a blizzard of incoming fire.
"Well, well Ms Rose; glad you could turn up", the boss approached, the laid back look he always seemed to start the day with regarding her casually, "I was going to ring you; thought you'd turned in sick". Despite the seriousness of the situation Amy had to smile as she joked with her employer,
"No sir, just managed to drag myself here out the sickbed – can't let you down at Christmas can I?" Mr. Cadbury smiled as he tapped the desk she was stood behind,
"You wouldn't be the first; pie please Simon".
"Huh?" the human looked perplexed for a second.
"From the tray under the register my dear boy; I tell you all the time I know every trick in the book, including the greasy 2p excuse you were about to use Amy". Simon reluctantly pulled out his mince pies and offered them,
"You know every trick in the book sir, but my life's ambition is to write the sequel".
"Then you have a long life ahead of you", the boss remarked dryly before turning more serious, "it should be quiet for the morning but there should be a rush towards lunch time. I need to visit the other store today so you're in charge Simon; I expect everything to be ship-shape when I get back". Simon looked at his boss with a deadly serious air,
"You'll get nothing less Mr. Cadbury".
"Good lad, now I'll see you both later". Nodding at his employees the store owner stepped out the door and headed out for the malls private car park.
"Never misses a trick that man" Simon admitted as he replaced his plundered stash of succulent mince pies. Amy giggled a little at his forlorn face,
"Maybe it's a good thing", she pointed coyly at his slightly tight trousers, "maybe he's trying to tell you something". She ducked under her co-worker's cuff and shrugged off the threat of sweeping up at the end of the day as just a laugh from him. There was an influx of people into the store and the next half-hour was taken up by serving customers and brushing up on her mental arithmetic.
Oh yes, perfect! Sonic saw it in the window and immediately knew it was the one – Tails would love a combination tool like that. The number of times he'd been under the Tornado and come out again, covered in oil stains and dust, just to fish a screwdriver out of his toolbox; well, this should stop that problem. Racing in and snapping it up, Sonic found himself left with the much thornier problem of what to buy for Shadow. He was tempted to go for a second diary for Shadow to recall his flashbacks on but, nah, that was too boring. Shadow had recently had a major breakthrough in his amnesia; he remembered fighting the Metal Overlord and the cause of his accident, and deserved something cool to commemorate it. But what though – Shads is just a normal guy now, doesn't seem to do too much bar run and work; Sonic felt frustrated as he couldn't see what to buy his friend at Christmas. Sighing and keeping his eye on the time, Sonic set off to circumnavigate the mall again.
Amy had just scooted around the front of the two man counter to clear away the empty trays when Si spoke up, looking through the window to the side of him,
"Hey Ames, isn't that Sonic?" At the mention of her hero's name the pink hedgehog's head snapped up, eyes wide and child-like as she glanced around hungrily. Yes, he co-worker had been right; the blue blur was crossing in front of the Quick Stop, heading for what looked like an outfitters, a look of mild curiosity on his handsome face. Amy cast a pleading glance towards Simon and, with a light smirk on his face he gave an encouraging nod. Feeling equal parts nervous and excited, Amy called over,
"Hey Sonikku".
Amy! Evasive manoeuvres! Sonic leapt forwards, spinning in the direction of the shout as he expected a full on bear hug attack from nowhere. What he actually got was both completely the opposite and entirely welcome; rather than haring towards him at a flat-out sprint, Amy was waving from the doorway of a small shop that was part of the food and comestibles branch of the mall. Oh yeah, I forgot she's got a job now; Sonic noticed the light green uniform and black trousers Amy was wearing as her uniform and, feeling much more relieved now he realised he wouldn't need a crowbar to prise her grip loose, waved back and headed for the Quick Stop Shop.
"Hey Ames, so this is the new job huh?" The younger Mobian swept her gaze behind her before looking at him again and smiling,
"Yep, this is it; I work three days a week here and I love it" she proclaimed proudly as Sonic suddenly remembered something Shadow had mentioned; he wasn't quite as tall as the black hedgehog so gently leaned up on tip-toe to see for himself.
"Hmm, Shads was right", as Amy looked a little perplexed he explained, "the piercing, it suits you".
"Thanks, but anyway, can't talk for long – what are you doing here so early?"
"Looking for something to get Shadow for Christmas", Sonic smiled ruefully as Amy rolled her eyes; she knew Sonic well enough to realise that he always left important things like Christmas shopping until the last minute; she usually had hers done by mid-August, "any ideas?"
"Well", I can sympathise; he's not the easiest guy to buy for; the pink hedgehog knitted her brows, "I just got him some of that nice shampoo he loves; I know!" Sonic looked up sharply as Amy clapped her hands, "he likes coffee, try and get him some different, exotic brands". Praise the Lord and halleluiah; she's done it; the blue hedgehog slapped a paw to his forehead as the blinding simplicity struck him.
"Amy, you're a genius", he put a hand on her shoulder and smiled whole-heartedly, "cheers; I'll just get some, oh thank you". He took off into the mall, shouting over his shoulder that he'd call back later and thanks again.
"You've gone pink". Amy wandered back into the Quick Stop in a daze; Sonic had complimented her new jewellery and they'd had a conversation without some kind of calamity happening. She scowled up at Simon as he looked at her slightly off-kilter; he knew she had hopeless feeling for Sonic and often offered tips on what, in his mind, Sonic as a guy might want. His help had been instrumental in her finally breaking her habit of chasing the blue blur all over the city; as he had told her in no uncertain terms, that was a sure-fire way of freaking him out.
"Newsflash, I've always been pink".
"Really", the human pointed down at the hedgehog's reflection in the clear plastic shield surrounding his register, "I've never seen fluorescent pink fur before". Amy smiled as she retook her normal position,
"You're a nightmare, you know that?"
"Proud of it".
"Anyway, thanks a lot". Si gently buffeted her shoulder,
"No sweat Ames; you do the same for me when I need a cig break". Amy wrinkled her nose at this; if Simon had one characteristic she didn't like it was the fact he smoked; the pink hedgehog knew no-one was perfect but she really wished he'd quit the habit. Still, he's a nice guy and he really helped me get to grips with the basics of this job; as more customers came in Amy threw off any thoughts she had on Si's unfortunate collection of little filtered friends and returned to her job.
Chocolate, caramel, urgh, strawberry coffee? Who comes up with this sort of stuff? Sonic spied an interesting jar of what was labelled 'Marching Coffee' and, piqued by the name, read the label. After a split-second he added it to his tray – anything with that much coco in it had to be worth it; that should do the trick. Sonic glanced down at the three jars he now held and decided to head for the checkout. He needed to quickly buy these and then head for home, he should easily have enough time to wrap these up and get them hidden. As he received his change and headed for the door he was struck by an epiphany. Well she did just help me out so, yeah, yeah that's perfect – someone's finally admitting the truth – not you again; read my lips; SHE IS A FRIEND – okayyyy… Sonic wrestled with his conscience for a second and then finally made up his divided mind. The trip home could wait for a few minutes while he made a quick stop.
As the working day finally drew to a close, Amy gratefully stretched to her full height and smoothed out her quills as much as was possible without a hairbrush that was specially built to withstand Mobian hedgehog spikes. Si glanced at the battered clock hanging behind him and shot her a sideways glance.
"Take a stock count Ames, I'll handle any customers. It'll get us done a bit quicker tonight". The hedgehog nodded and, after quickly assuring herself the shop was fairly empty following the five o'clock storm, headed into the tiny store-room. She tapped her access code into the small key pad and waited for the tiny click that let the door be pushed open, allowing Amy to enter the small space where all the goods to be stacked onto shelves were stored. Swiftly gripping the clipboard and attached pen from the top of a stack of boxes, Amy began the meticulous process of cataloguing what goods they had, what goods needed replenishing and what items had run out completely. Plenty of cereal, need a bit more ice-cream, Amy had to smile at this; Cream would give her right arm to see this place and get her jaws around the Quick Stop's supply of ice-cream, and…huh? Something flickered in the corner of her eye and she turned to face it; she had to blink as she saw a tiny rose glow pulsating in the dark crevasse between two stacks of bulky boxes containing between them a selection of biscuits and savoury pork pies. Amy focused on the shimmering shape, fascinated as it hovered at the end of its dark passageway. The more she looked at it, the clearer it seemed to become; it slowly expanded, beginning to fill her vision as a great red cloud, swirling gradually with a vague, solid shape at the epicentre. It was hard to pick it out but there was something there, something familiar, she could almost recognise…
"Amy!" The hedgehog jumped nearly a foot at the sudden shout, jerking her head around to see Simon looking at her with equal parts concern and fascination. The glow was gone as though it had never existed, but it had been there, she would have sworn blind on it.
"Ames, you feeling okay?" What was that thing; I know it, I've seen it before…oh Si, sorry!
"Yes", she shook her head slightly as she tried to put the scene into Si's perspective, "yeah I'm fine; sorry I was miles away". Si chortled, but she could tell there was an element of doubt in his mind as he replied.
"Just as well; any longer I'd have called a search party. Want to swap – I'll do this you serve?"
"Nah, thanks for the offer though", she put his mind at ease with her traditional victory pose, "I always finish what I start, though I occasionally need a little help to do it".
"Amen to that".
"You cheeky…get outta here before I decide to call Hammer Time". The rose hedgehog watched as Si beat a hasty retreat; he'd seen from her practising on a couple of empty cans what Amy could do with her Piko Piko hammer and decided not to offer himself as the next practise dummy. When the door to the store room slid shut again, Amy let her face fall and tried to recount what exactly what had happened. A red glow at the end of a tunnel – just like my dream; as she continued her report on the state of the Qucik Stop's stocks, her mind was in overdrive – something was weighing on her mind and she didn't know exactly what it was. No point worrying now, I'll just get people worried; it can wait until after Christmas, then I'll think about it more; she nodded, that was the right thing to do. Thrusting all thoughts of strange red lights and long dark tunnels out her mind she threw herself back into her job, thinking instead of how the festive season was just around the corner and how she'd be able to see everyone again.
Deep within its subterranean catacomb the being felt its recipient mind reach out for it, the first fluttering of conscious reaction to the subconscious implantation, but the motion was checked. Though it could not move or express its reaction to this development, there was a single feeling around its chamber – progress was being made.
A/N: I'm dreadfully sorry but this has to be said; there won't be an update on this story for at least six weeks due to the dreaded finals rapidly approaching. With all the revision needed and general worrying I won't be able to put the effort into this fic, so I'm putting it on hold for a while. Sorry peeps, but it has to happen.