1Disclaimer: 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 9: Attention Span and Escape

They had all spent the night at Tails' workshop in the Mystic Ruins. The snow had fallen hard from the night before making it impossible for the trains to run or for any air flight to take place. Cream was the first to wake up the next morning. She went towards the window and gazed outside. Snow fall in the area was still new to her and she want to take as much of it in. She couldn't help but notice romantic aura the fallen snow had given to the area. She turned her head around and stared at Tails fast asleep. He looked like a he was a sleeping child. How she loved him so, but couldn't bring herself to tell him. She then turned her head toward Knuckles and Rouge sleeping close together and content. They would certainly love to play in the snow. That is if Rouge was pregnant. Cream was soon startled by Shadow who was now stirring from his restful sleep. If only Shadow could find his equal then he would be set for life. Someone who could finally help him get over Maria's death, but yet help him not to forget about her. After awhile of starring at Shadow, she then placed her gaze over at Sonic who seemed restless in his sleep. Who would sleep so soundly after consuming all that junk he ate last night. If only she knew what he was truly dreaming about. It had seemed to her that he was definitely dreaming about someone.

In the past three days, Sonic had spent a great deal with his friends as a group. He would for the first time in his life listen to the stories that they had to tell about Amy. He was most certainly surprised with the stories that they had told him about her. In all this time that he had assumed he had known her, he had never pictured her to be anything else but a fan-girl. Sonic had learned so much about her in those few days then he did in all his days when she was around him. All that he could do was hang his head like a dog in disgrace, and listen to their stories. He never knew about how she let Tails and Shadow into her apartment, and then took care of them as best she could. He had always assumed she was a shallow air-head. He laughed at Rouge's story of how they ended up inside a walk-in freezer wearing nothing but their bathing suits during one of the hottest days of the year. Knuckles story told them of how she would listen when someone like him needed a friend to talk to. It made Sonic's heart melt to know things like these. It even caused him greater pain when he thought of all the times she tried to help him or cheer him up, and how he would push her away from him.

To his friends it didn't look like that. Then again, they have never known Sonic to show any sort emotion for or towards Amy. There was that time on the Ark, but it was probably just something he would say considering he was the ideal hero and all. Sonic sometimes thought he was playing the part of a character in a play or movie. If only he could live in a world with no worries.

It seemed out of character to Sonic's friends that he would even ask about their memories of Amy or even listen. They wanted to assume that Sonic was finally realizing his error, but then again why now? Why didn't he get to know her when he had the chance to instead of getting to know her through their memories? It almost seemed disgusting to them. He never said a kind word about her and was always putting her down when she still lived in Station Square and after she had left. For some strange reason, everyone started to notice that Sonic hadn't talked about her in a negative or, if in a miracle, in a positive way. It was that of neutral tone from him. They didn't know about his experience in Amy's old apartment and how he had an emotional break down there. They didn't even know about the mystery girl in his dream. They had notice that Sonic was acting out of character as of late and were deeply concerned, but they didn't know how to go about and ask him about his change.

Everyone knew how Sonic was such a private person, and had his reasons for keeping things from people. It was just that they were his friends and they were worried about him. Shouldn't they be let into his life? Weren't they his friends? Sonic can be such a pain at times, thought Cream as she moved away from the window and towards the bathroom for a nice long hot shower. She was almost startled when Sonic shot-up from his sleep and looked directly at her. Cream had never seen Sonic this way before, that it was creeping her out. She wanted to scream for dear life, but couldn't muster the energy to do so. She just watched on in terror as this blue hedgehog that she once knew as Sonic, got off the couch and walked towards her in a trance; mouthing something inaudible, that Cream fell to her knees and closed her eyes wanting this moment to end. An eternity of moments went by as her closed eyes detected some sort of flash. Cream shot her eyes open to see that he was gone, but not without leaving scorch marks on the wooden floor.

Cream woke everyone up in the room with a loud scream. Tails vaulted off of the soft recliner he had spent the night in and placed his arms around Cream. He could feel her body shaking and the cold sweat running from her entire body. She tried to get up, but her legs just didn't seem to work. They felt like the heaviest metals that she had seen Tails' using many times in his work. Tails just picked her up and carried her to his bed, as a very pregnant Rouge came in with a damp cloth and some chamomile tea. All he could do for Cream was to stay by her side and comfort her as best he could, even if he didn't know what he was doing. It just killed him inside that his friend, family, and hero would be acting this way. Why didn't he intervene sooner when he noticed that Sonic was acting differently? Now he didn't know what to do to help him or even stop him from hurting the ones he loved. This all had to be a terrible, terrible dream that he wanted so much to wake up from and find everything the way it should be. He wanted to wake up to a world where Sonic was okay again, where Amy was still around, and a world in which he wasn't afraid to love with his entire heart and soul for Cream. Shadow exited from the bathroom and looked at everyone as he entered the room, "What the hell happened here?"

Amy woke up just as her bus pulled inside of the Station Square's bus terminal station. She had been asleep during the entire trip there from the medication she took. The long sleep that she had helped her regain her energy for whatever she might face once she arrived. In all the time that she spent away from Station Square, she had always had disturbing nightmares where she was either alone trying to get her friends attention as she suffered from incredible pain. Most of the time she had dreams where she was confronted by Sonic where he would torture her with memories of everything she had tried to do in order to get his attention or even be his friend. He would laugh so coldly at her, his voice was full of hate that Amy woke up crying for hours. There were times when she wanted it all the pain to end. Where she could dream no more, and no longer feel the pain from which she suffered from. Would by killing herself solve anything? She tried to attempt suicide, but she never went through with it. It was as if someone didn't want her to die like that, as if they wanted her to suffer even more.

In all the three years that she had spent away from Station Square, this had to be the first time where she had truly slept so soundly. This had to be the first time where she did not dream. There were no nightmares or dreams, just dark cold nothingness. It felt so welcoming to her, that she wanted to always remain like that. It was a place where there was no beginning and where there was no end, where pain, lies, and love never existed. But for now she would have to settle for this reality.

She slowly lifted herself from her seat and made her way carefully off the bus. It was so hard for her to even climb down the stairs from the bus that the driver had to help her down himself. The driver then sat her down on a near by bench and went off to fetch her suitcase from under the bus's cargo bay. Amy sat by herself as she waited for her suitcase. Crowds of people passed her by never stopping once to ask her if she was feeling well. Amy was so pale from the way she was looking. If she wasn't wearing her coat, then she would have seemed like a living corpse sitting there alone on the bench.

The bus driver came towards Amy with her suitcase in tow. He brought it towards her as Amy covered her mouth and coughed into a tissue that she had pulled out of her pocket. She slowly got up to thank the man as she took hold of the suitcase's leash and rolled away with it toward the escalator. As she rode on the escalator, a part of her was hoping that someone she knew would be waiting for her at the very top. She wanted to cry as she got to the top where the main entrance. It wasn't because no one was there; it was because the Station Square of her memories no longer existed.

The snow though beautiful to look at made the city look like a world of slow death. Amy looked at her suitcase and remembered that she had only warm weather clothes inside, and the fact that she world have to buy clothes for the cold weather would definitely put her in the red. Then again she had no choice, but to buy clothes for her stay. She couldn't trade in bus ticket since she would need to pay for any of the changes, it made her feel trap in a place she vowed never to come back. Then again why did she?

Amy exited the terminal and ventured through Station Square. She knew she had very little money on her and less in her accounts. Inside of her she knew that money and tangible things no longer mattered to her. She wanted to push her self to the limits now, because life is only and always an illusion. Amy knew that death was the ultimate reality, and heaven could only grant that reality. She looked around as she walked slowly on the sidewalk watching people walked around with their loved ones without a care in the world. Never knowing that there end was would be one day near. All she could was to wish them "Happy Holidays".

She starred into the shop windows at the elegant and stylish clothes for sale Clothes that she herself once wore. As she starred into windows, she saw her old reflection starring back at her. Amy backed away, fearing that she was going insane from the seeing her old self. She couldn't bear looking at one of the many shadows from her past, even if it was her own reflection. The image of her past self taunted and mocked her. Her fear gave her the little burst of energy she needed to flee from that area of stores and shops. She ran for what seemed like hours to her, but was really only minutes.

No matter where she went, she saw her old reflection laughing at her and telling her that she was a loser and a fool, and no one could ever love a pathetic creature like. Not in this life or in the next one. She ran, but couldn't escape from herself. She felt boxed in and trapped within the concrete jungle. Why couldn't she escape!? People around her starred at her, wondering if she was schizophrenic or something like that. Someone tried to grab a hold of her, but she swatted the hand away and ran till she physically ran out of energy and collapsed to the snow covered ground of the city park, out of sight and out of mind from the populace.