Disclaimer: All of the Sonicverse characters and places inserted into this story are owned by SEGA, and used without permission. All other characters and places mentioned belong to me.

Sonic- 21 years

Amy (Paloma)- 19 years

Tails- 16 years

Knuckles- 23 years

Shadow- 22 years

Cream- 12 years

Rouge- 25 years

Chapter 7: Stability and Break Down

Winter had come to Station Square like it did every year. In all the years since anyone could remember, it had never snowed till now. The weather during the winter season felt like an autumn day. The snow blanketed the city and gave it a beautiful glow. The city's children loved the fact that they could finally experience a snow day. They had heard so many stories of how other kids on the east coast were able to have these snow days. Cream looked out her circular bedroom window that was facing the street. She and her mother had lived in the rural area of Station Square as far back as she could remember. Unlike Tails and the others, Cream attended school and enjoyed it quite well. She was a pacifist and didn't enjoy the idea of fighting as way to solve any matter. She considered knowledge as true power and with it; it could solve any matter without resorting to such uncalled for violence or pain.

She sighed a bit, the warmth of her breathe fogged up the window in front of her. She took her paw and mindlessly doodled on the condensation that was on the window. The doodled soon became a picture of someone she adored and looked up to in her past. They were long gone now, and Cream had not seen her in what seemed to her as an eternity. She never thought that she could hate a person as much as she did Amy. To Cream, Amy was like her big sister that she could do things with and talk to. Sure, there was her own mother, Vanilla, but there were some things that you couldn't discuss with a parent, even if that certain parent was your very own.

Cream felt uncomfortable about talking about boys with her mother. Maybe it was the fact that she never knew her father and had assumed that since her mother never remarried or dated that she better not take her advice on the subject matter. Her mother never mentioned much about her father. Not even if he was alive or not. She could even swear that her mother had sworn off men as a way of not getting hurt again. Was her father dead, or was he cad that ran off with another before she was born? Was she the cause for this? Cream shook her head in order to shake away these buried thoughts that she had collected over the years.

Cream let out another sigh and headed for the kitchen. She had been at the window long enough and was now starved, and the smell of whatever her mother had left for her to eat was mouth watering. She entered the warm kitchen and couldn't believe that by looking at the clock on the kitchen wall that she had been at that window of hers for about two hours. Time sure flies when you are contemplating your pre-teen angst. She turned in the direction of the intoxicating aroma, and drooled as she saw plate of sausage, fried eggs, and cheese on a Kaiser roll sitting there in front of her. Her mother as a Sunday tradition would make these things for her to have right after they came home from church. It was out of character for her mother to make this for her on her day off from school. Normally she would have a bowl of cereal or pancakes with fresh strawberries on the side and a glass of milk or juice to wash it down.

Something seemed suspicious, it had to be a sign that her mother was preparing to tell her something and this was her way to soften the blow. She couldn't think of anything that might make her mother act like this. She didn have a man in her life and her job at the local flower shop was great, and money wasn't really a problem. Cream hoped that it wasn't something that would take her away from Station Square. She just started to see Tails in a different light. Sure he was about four years older then her, but it didn't matter to her. Cream made sure that she wouldn't chase after him like Amy had done with Sonic years before, and unlike Sonic, Tails didn treat Cream as horrid as Sonic had treated Amy. Tails would smile at the small trinkets that she made or bought for him. He would ask her to hang out with him, but their relationship never went any further then that. She could tell that by the way he acted around her that he truly liked her, but was shy to admit it and the fact that he was four years older then her was no help. It wasn't some simple school girl crush, it was certainly love. She had grown up with that two-tailed kitsune, and knew everything about him and felt at total ease when with him. Cream felt that she could trust him with anything.

Cream licked her fingers, trying to get the last bit of crumbs off of her paws. Every time she would think of Tails, Sonic and Amy were somewhere around in her thoughts. She hated the fact that Amy was gone and not heard from. In all the time that she was gone and before then she had sided with Sonic on how she chased him. Even if she was to tell her that she was out of control with the chasing, Cream was afraid to admit it back then cause she knew that Amy would see her as clueless in the game of love.

Cream had never saw Sonic as the bad guy, then again she didn't know him as long as the others did. He was in her own view trying to make a statement about how he felt about Amy. Sonic obviously had no feelings for her what so ever. To think that Amy would act so childish as to not accepting what Sonic had to said to her. Even though they were hurtful, she had no right to slap the guy. Yeah it was mean that he said he wished she never existed, but Cream had attributed that to anger, and the fact that he probably didn't mean it.

Cream's ears perked up when she heard the main entrance door closed. She got up from her chair in the kitchen and walked into the living room where noise was coming. There she had found her mother with what looked like things that would be for a baby shower. Her mother smiled and motioned her daughter to come help her with decorations. Just then Cream remembered that her mother had wanted her to help with a baby shower that they were giving Rouge. Cream sighed thinking how it would be great if Amy was here to join in the fun, then she gave another sigh of relief at the fact that her mother was planning anything that would ruin her social life and anything else that she could think of at the moment.

Sonic watched the snowfall from atop of a school's jungle gym. The cold weather didn't really bother him that much, in fact he was born in a cold climate. It was when he was a little bit older that he had left for South Island, and became addicted to the warm climate. He still couldn't believe that it had been three years since Amy had left and what he had said to her didn't quite sink into his thick-headed skull yet. Sonic had dates with girls, but not what he was looking for in a lover. It was hard to believe that these girls would ever use him, and then hurt his feelings. He put his heart on his sleeve for them and they just threw it down and stomped on it. Who was he fooling, no girl on the entire planet would ever be honest with him. They were just using him and how he hated that.

At least he still could dream of her. He still dreamed the same dream of chasing a girl that was out of his reach and was surrounded in darkness. But in those years he had managed to get near her to grab her hand and even embrace her, but he could never see her face. He wanted to kiss her in his dream, but she would never allow it. "It can never be. You don't even know what love is or even how to love another who loves you", the girl would say each time in his dream. When he placed his hand on her face lovingly, she would back away and disappear, leaving her tears on his gloves. He would wake up crying in a somewhat familiar place, a place that wasn't his home. It freaked him out every time he woke up there. Was he sleep waking cause of guilt?

Sonic jumped off the jungle gym and headed back home, but he didn't make back. The snowfall was heavier and made visibility nearly impossible for him to navigate. So, he stopped in the only place he could...Amy's old apartment building. It was odd for him to stop there and find refuge, considering the fact that this building was no where near his. Being very careful, Sonic leaped onto the snow covered fence and then jumped onto the top of a neighboring condemned building and on to Amy's old fire escape. Sonic then wedged his way through the window entrance that he had made sometime ago. At least he thought he had made the entrance.

The inside of the apartment hadn't changed since he last saw it three years ago, when he went to go and seek her out. In the past months that he had mysteriously woken up in that place, he had never had a good look around.

It sure would have been a nice and warm place to visit or even lived in. The paint on the walls was cracking and pieces had fallen on the ground. He couldn't help imagine what this place would have looked like with all it's furnishing and sun shining into the windows. His friends had told him stories of how they had felt in Amy's apartment. They had always said they felt safe and wanted. That they could fall asleep on the couch in the living room, and how they could never bring themselves to leave. They had also said that Amy's kindness and love made all the difference. Sonic certainly missed out on a lot by ignoring her and treating her cruelly. In fact he was treating her the same way that the girls he was dating were treating him. He basically used Amy to get attention, and abused her by hurting her feelings. As far as he could remember when Amy was very young, and she tried to have a conversation with him for the very first time, he just pushed her aside and told her that he didn't like her type. Sonic hung his head low, he didn't know what her type was back then. All he could remember that for about two weeks he didn't hear from until the beginning of the third week and then the chasing began. Even then he never gave her chance. He had so many countless years to give her a chance and he sure did blew it.

Sonic felt so disgusted and ashamed with himself that the hero that everyone had thought was invincible started to break down and cry. He was in so much pain and he had caused so much pain to his friends and to another that they left because of him.

A gust of coldness engulfed his body and made him shiver for the first time in his life. Was it an omen of something bad was going to happen, Sonic couldn't care less at this point. He surveyed the room for a bit and fond an old quilt with it's color fading. He picked it up and wrapped it around his body. Sonic sniffed the blanket and took in scent from long ago that he almost forgotten about. It was Amy's scent. It was so natural and real that it made him cry even more till his tears lured him into a deep and restless sleep.