Chapter 4 – Feasts, Fun and Friendship.
A/N: Thanks again to all my reviewers, but apparently some of my comments last chapter were a little confusing – time to clear that up:
KatyRose – The dreaded W.U.M is actually the Washing-Up Monster; it's translated on the next line down but I forgot to capitalise the words. This dreadful beast is any child's worst nightmare (unless, of course, you have the luxury of a dish washer). Its close twin is the D.U.M – the Drying-Up Monster.
As the Mobians lowered the glasses from their lips, Shadow reached for the lemonade bottle and swiftly unscrewed the top, beckoning Cream and Tails; the pair approached and offered their glasses in unspoken acknowledgement. One sip was fine but no more than that – Shadow quickly watered down the little wine they had left with the fizzy lemonade as Vanilla gave an approving nod. Sonic set his glass down, set his roving eye on the creaking table and licked his lips; it was nearly half-past one and that, in his eyes, was far too far past lunch time to be comfortable,
"All right, let's eat".
"Hold it", Amy stepped in front of the table protectively with her hands raised, "first, let's all see what we brought and explain how we made it; why don't you start Knuckles?"
"And me", Rouge cut in indignantly, "we're a team now". Big straightened at this, remembering something that had slipped his mind as he had been greeted by Cream.
"Yeah, congratulations; I heard you two are together now, so well done".
"Yes, I forgot as well", Vanilla admitted before suddenly looking a little more curious, "how did you two manage that; from what Cream told me you were rivals at one stage". Though she'd expected a response, the older rabbit probably hadn't expected the blizzard that suddenly sprang up out of nowhere.
"I wanna tell her". Tails declared,
"No please let me, let me say it". Shadow pleaded,
"No fair, I was first". Sonic protested before Amy shouted above the lot of them,
"Quiet down", she took a deep breath and pointed at the now slightly redder Knuckles and the now rouge-cheeked Rouge, "let them tell their own story you horrible lot; it's a bit embarrassing" she said as explanation to Vanilla and Big. There was a whispered conversation between the pair before, with a heavy sigh, Rouge gradually wafted her hand at Sonic,
"Oh go on then, being's as it's Christmas you can tell them". The blue hedgehog crackled with glee as he rubbed his hands together,
"Now, where to start…oh yes, we'd just arrived on Angel Island on Tails' Tornado and…"
Sonic, more so than all his friends, was a great story-teller, his natural charisma imbuing the words he spoke with inner fire that, by the end of his story, had Amy, Cream and Tails, as well as Vanilla and Big, consumed with giggles. Even Rouge herself had to hold in a few snorts of laughter as memories of that day came flooding back, some of them a little painful but most just tickling her inside as she looked fondly at what the consequences of that day had been. She and the Mobian next her had each discovered how the other felt and drawn up plans for the future together; she had quit her spying job not a fortnight later with a minimum of fuss (she'd later discovered they'd been planning to make her redundant anyway – apparently with Eggman gone the government didn't need half of its information network) and become a sort of co-guardian, helping to shoulder her soul-mate's burden. She and Knuckles were close in the truest sense of the word; it wasn't romance or any kind of spur-of-the-moment decision, it was a deep, mutual respect and affection that had evolved and matured over time and trial into the everlasting bond it now was. As Sonic drew his interpretation of events to a close, she felt Knuckles' hand close over her own,
"He did a good job, don't you think?"
"Hmm", the bat had been lost in her memories and smiled sheepishly, "sorry, I wasn't really listening". Knuckles chortled as he put his arm around her shoulders and gave a gentle squeeze,
"I know, you were miles away", he dropped his voice slightly as he examined where Sonic had reduced Big to a laughing mess, "he's a good guy at heart; didn't say about the breakdown, just layered the embarrassment on with a trowel". Rouge rolled in his grip and looked up at him, smiling exasperatedly
"You were expecting him to do anything less?" Knuckles shook his head and smiled back at her,
"Nah". He didn't resist as Rouge moved closer and slowly kissed him full on the lips, her free hand ruffling the trademark dreadlocks on the back of his head. He drew her in towards him, rejoicing in the new strength in his life and would have continued had not an encouraging wolf-whistle echoed forwards, along with a few less appealing comments,
"Please, there's a time and a place".
"You're just jealous" Rouge answered Tails as he sniggered at the two older Mobians; Amy quickly whispered to Vanilla and waited until their host had vanished before muscling in,
"Well, you can talk hot-lips", she continued as Cream squeaked in protest, "there's something you two need to see…"
"No way", Cream made a dash for her mother but was cut off by a chortling Shadow, "once was enough, no; Rouge you can have her for free!"
"Hahaha", Knuckles passed the photo to Rouge as Tails went red again and looked at the floor, "look on the bright side kid; oh, forgot, there isn't one – go you stud".
"Santa is going to remember this for next Christmas", the fox threatened as he glowered ruefully, "but luckily for you I'm too hungry to get revenge now".
"Good point", Vanilla hid the picture again after Big took an eyeful and rubbed his team mate on her bright red ears, "everyone grab a plate and tuck in".
Amy took a nice large slice of fish onto her plate and added some of the casserole-type dish her crush and his flat mate had worked on together; the white meat of the fish was stained a dark brown by a little gravy from the meat dish.
"Remember to save a little room for pudding" Cream reminded them as she took a ladle full of the hedgehog's meaty juice onto some slices of turkey, her two chao preceding her into the lounge. Sonic sidled over to Knuckles as the guardian moved for a plate,
"C'mon, didya, didya, didya?"
"Maybe" the echidna smirked as Sonic moaned aloud,
"Knuckles", he ran his hands down his face, frustrated at being baulked so close to his goal, "please, you must have, no presents if you didn't" he threatened suddenly. The guardian acted shocked and held up his hands as though relenting under intolerable pressure,
"No, don't threaten my precious gifts", he grinned as he indicated the thermos flask on the table, "yes I made some; in there, but don't hog it all". Sonic gave a victory pose and a delighted hiss as Knuckles tried to act dignified,
"Reduced to a kid for the sake of a drop of soup; and you saved the world how exactly?"
"Dumb luck and ignorance" the hedgehog cheerfully admitted as he levered the cap of the thermos; he poured out a small measure of the pale green liquid into the cup and took a long swig.
"Ah, that's the stuff", he replaced the thermos top and examined the rest of the table, "now for the main course".
By the time the eating had stopped it was definitely mid-afternoon; the pace of the day had slackened off, as had a good many belt sizes. Tails reclined on the floor, stomach comfortably full and body well rested as he called over,
"That was divine", his eyes fell on Vanilla, "how did you make the ice-cream that thick?" The elder rabbit tapped the side of her nose secretly,
"Old family secret; I take it you liked it?" Rouge looked over from her seat and nodded,
"First time I've ever eaten ice-cream I had to chew", she flumped back down with a groan, "I'm not moving for the rest of the day". Knuckles grinned ghoulishly and crept up behind her seat,
"And why's that Rouge", he darted his hands forwards and prodded the bat's taut stomach, grinning as her attempts to catch him were slowed and sluggish, "eyes bigger than your belly?"
"Stop it you irritating so-and-so", Rouge demanded, trying to slap his hands away before turning to address the other two girls, "how come you two ate so much; where does it all go?" Cream and Amy shared a sly glance before answering,
"Reckon we should tell them?" Say yes, we'll get a bit of a laugh out of this.
"Yeah", Cream answered after a few second's umming and ahhing, "can't do too much damage can it?" Not sure exactly what you're up to but go for it Ames. The rose hedgehog nodded and spoke solemnly,
"It's a Team Rose secret; shared digestion", they're confused enough right about…now, "Cream and I eat all the food and Big gets all the goodness; keeps us slim and him as strong as he is". There were a few polite chuckles as it actually made a surprising amount of sense; Big seemed to eat next to nothing and looked like he needed to be compensated for by the other two members of his team, who'd packed away far more than their demure size would have you believe. Rouge flicked her eyes upwards and smiled approvingly,
"Looks like it works", she looked at Knuckles and gave a calculating expression, "I might try something like that". The echidna staggered back horrified,
"Leave it out, I'd waste away". Sonic joined in after checking he had a clear run to the door,
"Or turn into a blob"; the reaction was instant.
Rouge sprang from her seat and vaulted over to where the blue hedgehog was leant against the wall with her blue eyes flashing madly. Sonic cringed and Shadow threw himself to the side as the bat landed, lashed out with one hand and pinned the hero to the wall.
"Care to repeat that?" Uh oh; quick, excuses…got it!
"Just, er, just getting you out of the chair", he smiled cheesily under her withering glare, acutely aware that his immediate health was now dependent on him mellowing Rouge out, "besides, if we clear up now, we get to presents faster". Typical Sonic; better get his butt out the fire again; Amy picked up her plate and moved to collect the empty one nearest her,
"Good idea; give us a hand and we'll get this done quick". The blue hedgehog breathed a heavy sigh of relief as Rouge released him and mentioned something about revenge coming later. A rough system was established that let three Mobians wash and dry up, two put the dried items away, two store the remaining food in sealable containers and somehow let Rouge and Vanilla overseeing proceedings, the bat in particular taking a great deal of satisfaction in dividing the chores amongst the others. As he dipped his ungloved hands into the washing up bowl again, Knuckles whispered to Amy about how they'd manage to get back at his girlfriend for pulling a fast one like that.
"This one's for you Ames"; Shadow dipped his hand into the small sack of presents he'd brought with him in the boot of the car. Though his was the smallest bag his friends were rapidly discovering that size really didn't matter.
"Oh Shadow, where did you get this?" It was a tiny jar of purest maple syrup, the type that lasted eternally because just one drop would sweeten any pancake in the world. Amy hugged the black hedgehog as she simultaneously begged Vanilla for another bowl of her ice-cream to try her syrup out on. The ebony hedgehog shook his head as he offered a second, even smaller present upwards and called,
"This one's for the gruesome twosome, wherever they are". Cream leapt up and clapped her hands,
"Cheese, Chocola, come get it". There was a rush of squeaking as the two chao breezed in from upstairs, wrestling the brightly wrapped parcel out of Shadow's hand and fighting it to the floor, desperate to unwrap it as the others watched on. Vanilla quietly approached Shadow and stooped to say in a whisper,
"What is it?"
"Just a chao toy", there was a collective 'aww' as Cheese and Chocola took to the air again, playing aerial tug of war with the soft plastic toy shaped like a spring. Cream squealed with happiness as her pets whirled around together, joined by their new toy as they fought painlessly for dominance.
"Thanks Mr Shadow; they love it".
"So I gathered", he replied sardonically as Big was forced to duck under the twirling pair; he then fixed his eyes on the pile of presents belonging to him, "you lot really want to get me on a caffeine rush don't you – there's enough coffee here to last from now until next Christmas". It appeared that great minds had thought alike in the case of Amy and Tails; there were at least half a dozen different flavours and brands of coffee visible as Tails chuckled.
"Well, you're not the easiest guy to get things for", he span on his heel and addressed the echidna next to him, "but you're easier than Mr. Self-sufficient over here".
"Hey, look on the bright side Tails", Sonic reclined next to the door of the hallway, never even hearing his doom as it crept up on him, "at least you could make something; I was wracking my brain for ageeehhhhheeeeeess!" Something wet and extremely cold was forcefully pressed to the back of the hedgehog's neck as a sly voice whispered in his ear,
"Never joke about a woman's weight Sonic; it can lead to rather more than a cold shoulder". Rouge smiled as she raced into the kitchen and threw the remainder of the melting snowball into the sink before the hero could react to the sneak attack. The bat gave her victory pose as he suddenly appeared in the doorway, eyes sparking with challenge and fun as he said solemnly,
"Rouge, that was a dangerous thing to do".
"I laugh in the face of danger", the ex-spy remarked as Sonic crossed his arms and intoned in a voice of doom,
"Right, I challenge you; snowballs at ten paces – do you accept?" Just do it, I dare you. Rouge smiled back sweetly; sounds like a dare to me,
"You're on blue boy".
"Good", the hedgehog turned and marched out towards the back door, the others trailing in his wake as he scooped up a handful of snow from the porch of Vanilla's back garden. Tails took up the role of impartial adjudicator as both combatants picked up their weapons and gestured rudely at each other,
"Back to back"; at the kit's shout, Rouge and Sonic approached each other and span on their heels – they weren't actually back to back due to the risk of Sonic's spines piercing Rouge's wings but, to Tail's eyes, it was close enough.
"Hope you like the taste of snow batgirl".
"No chance, I'm a crack shot – prepare to be put on ice spiky". As the smack talk finished Tails started the count,
"One, two, three…" Go on, not long now; Rouge mentally prepared herself for the quick-draw and shoot response she had perfected after years of faithful practice. She breathed steadily and on the shout she'd go full out.
"Ten!" She span, eyes fixing on their target and…oof!
Sonic was a master at any kind of 'ten paces' game for one simple reason; he could clear ten paces before the other guy could turn around, Shadow excluded. Rouge realised that exactly twenty-three seconds after it would have been useful, right when Sonic tackled her to the snowy ground and flipped her onto her front. Revenge, and this works best when they're wearing something like this… Sonic pulled back the collar of the bat's jumpsuit with a cheery shout,
"Moral for the day; it is more blessed to give than to receive". He stuffed his handful of snow down the rear of former spy's form-hugging clothing and grinned in victory as she gasped in shock from the sudden cold.
"EEEkkkk", the bat managed to squeak before fury rose up to cloud out the shock and summon reinforcements, "Knuckles!" The echidna needed no second bidding; he ploughed into the hedgehog with a will and it was Sonic's turn to kiss the snow with his back-spikes. As the hero struggled Rouge pelted his pinned form with snowballs, shrieking,
"Revenge is sweet".
"Leave my bro alone"; Tails let his inner child out and threw a ball that Rouge just managed to duck before he was sneak-attacked by Shadow. Of course, Cream had to retaliate and soon the entire yard was filled with whizzing icy projectiles and dire threats as it was every man for himself. Webs of allegiance shifted at the drop of a hat and everyone needed eyes in the back of their head to avoid everyone else. As the duel wore on, only two people managed to avoid the hostilities; one retreating inside to deal with the casualties of war and the other waiting for the perfect second to strike.
It was really dark when Knuckles, red fur nearly stark white from clinging snow and his white crest completely obscured by ice, sent out the shout,
"All right, that's enough", though a couple of snowballs were sent his way there was a general consensus that the echidna was right; every single person there with the exception of Big, who had been quietly building a snowman the whole time, was soaking wet and freezing. Amy crawled out from behind her temporary shelter of the huge cat's collection of snow, a massive ball of snow nearly half as tall as Big himself, dress sopping wet as she emerged shivering, letting her snowball fall from her numb hand as the rest of her friends huddled together near the back door of the house.
"I won", Shadow declared suddenly as the rest glared at him, "I hit more people than anyone else". Sonic, breath frosting the air, smiled at him weakly,
"Maybe, but this was between me and Rouge", the bat snarled good-naturedly as he mentioned her name, "who won out of us two?"
"Me obviously" the bat declared as Big approached the rest of the group, his passive face hiding his real aim with minimal difficulty. Tails hailed him as he approached,
"Hey Big guy", he glanced back to the ball the cat had collected, "sorry but I don't reckon there's enough snow left to finish your snowman". The cat turned back, looking at it; the fact that this action also masked his grin was a real plus though.
"Yeah, looks that way", he turned back to where Rouge and Sonic were engaged in some kind of stare-down, "but that's not a snowman".
Something that often catches a lot of people out is the speed at which a larger person can move when they want to; Rouge and Sonic were caught stone cold as Big lashed out, grabbing each of them with a single hand and hoisting them upright; by a strange quirk of fate, in the entire fight only these two had hit the cat with stray snowballs and this was payback. As the two struggled and the others tensed at this unusual behaviour from the passive cat, Big smiled and turned,
"You know", he started jogging slowly back down the yard, "throwing snowballs at people is fun but…" both his unwilling passengers looked up and shrieked as they realised their destination,
"OH NOOOOO!" There was an explosion of whiteness as both smaller Mobians were thrown headlong at the gargantuan snowball Big had rolled. The others disintegrated into helpless laughter as Big span and gave a victory pose,
"…I prefer to throw people at snowballs". Tails, nearly hiccupping with laughter, reeled forwards and took hold of one of Big's mammoth arms, raising it as high as was possible for him.
"I, I declahahare, the winner of the duel; Big!" There was rapturous applause as the cat glanced behind him and, realising Sonic and Rouge were burrowing their way out of their icy prison, headed inside at a rapid rate of knots. Teeth chattering, Rouge was helped to her feet by Sonic,
"W,we were, h, had!"
"Y,yeah", Sonic agreed in an equally stuttered tone, "truce?" She shook the pro-offered hand as Knuckles approached to guide them both inside, chortling at the shaking pair.
Vanilla was waiting for them inside, inwardly smiling as she realised that no-one had noticed at least some of those snowballs had been thrown by her; she could carry on her responsible-adult-looking-after-kids routine with a straight face. It was a soaking wet, shivering collection of Mobians that were stood on the newspaper she'd left down, waiting for the few flecks of ice still dotted in their fur to melt away.
"Have fun?" She asked sardonically as she moved a kitchen chair up to let her reach the airing cupboard.
"Yeah, that was a blast", Shadow wrung a little melt-water out of his quills as he answered, "a bit wet and cold but otherwise great".
"The wet and cold I can agree with, but luckily for you lot I prepared for such an occurrence"; eight pairs of eyes radiated gratitude as Vanilla reappeared in the outhouse, holding a collection of pre-heated, bone dry towels in her arms. She braced herself for the rush that duly happened as everyone raced forwards to grab the biggest towel. Cream managed to wrest a nice fluffy beige one out of the press and wrapped it carefully around her ears, sighing as the warmth began to thaw them out.
"Oh Cream", she pricked her hearing up as Vanilla called her, "I ran a bath for you; you can take it while your suit dries out". With a yelp of delight the young rabbit wormed her way through the press of bodies and hugged her mother.
"Thank you, thank you forever; how did…"
"Oh come on", Vanilla chuckled as she explained her logic, "wearing a dress in a snowball duel? That's just asking for trouble. Try not to take too long – Amy can have it after you". Cream gave her victory pose and turned to the others momentarily,
"Rouge, sorry but I just decided; mum's not for sale", Cream held Vanilla by the hand, "she's worth too much".
"As it should be", the former spy called back, "now get in that bath; I'm dying for a soak after Ames".
Okay, it won't be long now; Sonic fingered his mug of coco nervously as he realised soon it would be time, just say hi and go from there. He cast a quick glance around the room as the others sat quietly, still recovering from the snowball duel with a cup of one of Shadow's new coffee brands – in this case it was the sweet coco Tails had brought him. He was so tempted to just slip it in unnoticed with an anonymous note but no, he wouldn't let himself do that; he'd never chickened out of anything in his life and was not going to start now. Amy was in the bathroom now, Rouge and Cream already washed and the bat dressed in a borrowed dress from Vanilla. Sonic smiled; the poor rabbit appeared to be on the verge of dozing off, her slipping mug deftly caught by Big as she yawned.
"Tired Cream?" Knuckles inquired jokingly; she replied with a haggard smile,
"It's the coco, it always puts me out like a light", she stretched, "just wait for Amy to finish in the bathroom and brush my teeth before bed". Sonic tried to act normal,
"I think you'd best join her Tails"; it was only when Shadow cracked up that he realised that was an official open mouth, insert foot – even Vanilla sniggered as he tried to make up for it, "sorry bro, that didn't come out right; I didn't mean it like that".
"Priceless", Knuckles gave an ironic round of applause as most of the others were reduced to giggling messes, "oh that was a classic; sorry but it was" he tried to apologise to the blushing Cream as Tails looked at Sonic with potential murder in his eyes.
"Not under my roof", Vanilla asserted, wagging a finger as her hammy matriarch act caused Big to double over, looking like he was about to pop as even his huge lungs struggled to contain the internal feathers, "but he's right; you two had better get to your, separate, beds pretty soon". Sonic was as red-faced as Tails, Rouge in particular having a lot of fun pointing this out, when a sudden noise at the edge of his hearing made him realise this could be someone upstairs working in mysterious ways. As the others were occupied, he slid out of the lounge.
Amy unbolted the bathroom door and stepped outside; the radiator had been turned up so high it had dried her dress off and she could wear it again. She stepped outside the steamy interior of the ablutions chamber, to come face to face with a nervous looking Sonic.
"Oh, sorry Sonic I…"
"Shh" he hissed, a finger to his lips, please don't let the others hear this; "no I don't need the bathroom, I, er, I wanted to talk to you". Is, is this really happening, to me!
"Um, okay, what about?" Amy tried to act casual but the sheer tonnage of this bombshell had sent her reeling, now or never – go for it. In possibly the bravest move he'd ever made in his life, Sonic, blushing madly and not able to meet her eyes, slowly revealed the secret he'd held in his pocket all day.
"Thisisforyou". Amy felt her heart leap as the blue hedgehog held a small, wrapped box in his hand and offered it to her gently.
"Is this…" Sonic had an idea of what she was going to ask and mentally kicked himself; he should have planned this better,
"Sorry, it's not quite what it looks like; I, just, just thought this would look good on you". Burning with curiosity, Amy quickly but carefully removed the wrapping to see a small, red box bound with a ribbon; with all the delicacy of a world class neurosurgeon at work, she eased the ribbon loose and lifted the top of the box.
"Oh".
Oh God, she doesn't like it – I knew it should have been the other one; Sonic was in a complete tizzy as Amy remained motionless for a few seconds and his nerves stretched ever tauter. He was full of self-recrimination until a single, small voice pierced it asunder,
"Sonikku", Amy couldn't believe the Mobian in front of her had done this; that he could be capable of something so thoughtful and sweet, "it's perfect".
"Really?" Nice one my son; got it right for a change; "you mean it?" Amy looked up at him, the tears of joy shimmering in her eyes drowned out by the smile on her lips.
"Of course", she slowly reached up and took her stud out of her ear, placing it in the box before picking up her new, and much more fitting jewellery. It was an earpiece, cast in gold with the leaves and stem picked out in a vein of green jade and the petals in rich ruby; a jewelled flower. As soon as it fitted into place, Amy made a binding vow that she'd wear this every day of her life and nothing would ever happen to it. Sonic had a strange lump in his throat as he realised just how deep this had gone and, throwing his ego, his image and everything else to the wind, he said three words,
"A perfect rose".
Amy lost control; she couldn't have even hoped to contain it as she suddenly caught Sonic in a hug, but it was here he broke a second of his hidden taboos. Rather than try and shake her off or run away, Sonic put his arms around her in kind – he was still embarrassed but this time it was different; he could understand why she was doing this. I made her happy, so this is her way of saying thanks; a strange, warm glow suddenly filled the blue hero and he relished it, keeping hold of Amy as the warmth filtered through to every tiny molecule in his body. The two held until a small voice, filled with gentle insistence, broke in,
"Hey you two", it was Tails; the young fox had been wondering what was keeping his brother and had walked around the corner to get a full view of the precious moment; before they had noticed him his sharp eyes had spotted something very important in the circumstances, "aren't you forgetting something?" He nodded upwards and two gazes followed his line of sight; there were a pair of nervous chuckles as the embracing pair realised just what was dangling over their heads. Sonic ran a hand through his spines and took a deep breath, looking Amy square in the eye and smiling as Tails turned his back good-naturedly; he knew, probably better than anyone, just how much courage this was taking from Sonic,
"Well, I guess it's Christmas". The blue hedgehog leaned in; his breath was warm on her face and Amy closed her eyes; as their lips met, Amy thanked anyone who felt like listening for giving her the best Christmas of all time.
A/N: In case anyone's curious, the story Sonic told about Knuckles and Rouge getting together is recorded in my archive under the title The Best Medicine. It's a bit of a light-hearted yarn so read it if you've had a bit of a down day.
On a second note – it's COMPETITION TIME! The person who can answer this question gets the prize of a small section of text from later in the fic (a real cliff-hanger for you). The question is related to the entire story arc so far, and it is (drum roll please):
When was the photo of Tails and Cream kissing first brought to light and where was it seen?
All answers in the review section of this story please; the first review with the correct answer gets the prize. Please leave a contact address or a signed review so I can contact you. Good luck and happy reading.