-Amy-

I'm frowning at the onscreen map, tapping at it with the special pen to zoom in, when Tails' voice crackles over the radio system.

"Brace yourselves!"

I shout back into the old microphone next to me,

"What?"

"Missiles incoming, estimated impact twenty-five seconds! Within five hundred!"

Within five hundred metres?! That's too close! We could be killed! Of course, that's the point of missiles, but I'd thought we'd be safe here for another week at least. If I picked wrong and this place isn't well enough reinforced, it'll be the last mistake I'll ever make.

"Brace! No evac! Three within five hundred, twenty seconds!" Tails' voice has an oddly harsh quality to it over the radio, he's not too loud but it still hurts your ears, just like some of the announcements on the train system used to, back when we still had a train system. I spin my chair to look at the pile of blankets where Shadow is lying, so totally exhausted that he hasn't even woken up, but I decide to leave him be. There's nothing either of us can do; this room is the strongest in our little hideout, and if it goes then all the others will. The countdown continues in my head; I've come to be rather good at counting seconds these days. I get down on the floor and wait.

Three impacts shake the room. Dust falls from the ceiling, my chair falls over, and I hear the sound of the computer going down. With any luck, Tails' special circuit breakers will have stopped it from short-circuiting, but I'm not certain. When the shaking's stopped and the dust has mostly settled, I get up off the floor and take a look around. Shadow still hasn't woken up; the poor guy was totally exhausted when he staggered in earlier. For a moment I feel almost protective of him, but I step on that firmly. I don't - I can't - allow myself to feel anything special for anyone, not even Shadow. If I do, and then he dies, it'll cloud my judgement too much, and that could get us all killed. I can't afford that. But sometimes… I get lonely, and I wish… ah, what's the use? Firmly I tell myself, we will win, but it's a mantra that's wearing awfully thin these days.

I look into the dusty haze of the corridor, where parts of the ceiling have come down, then turn back to my computer. I pick up my chair, but don't bother to sit down, and try to turn on the computer. It comes on all right, but then a message appears on the screen.

Warning: Power fluctuations below buffer safety levels. Do you wish to proceed?

In other words, those missiles damaged our power supply. For the first time, I realise that the lights are flickering, and mutter something rude under my breath. I need to get Tails here, need to tell him what we're going to do next. I need him to get the power back so I can decide on the best place to move to - if anyone can get it back, it's him - so I turn to the microphone, hoping it's still working. After tapping at it a couple of times, sometimes hearing a distorted sound, sometimes not, I notice a sound behind me. Footsteps, two pairs of feet. I turn. Tails, and Sonic - what?! I look back again, thinking I must have made a mistake, but it really is him! I just stare for a few seconds, and he stares back. At first I can't figure out why, then I realise it - the last time he saw me, I looked very different. He's the first to speak, disbelief in his voice.

"Amy?!"

I gawp at him for a few seconds longer before reality begins to sink in.

"S-Sonic?!" He's still a little taller than I, but not as much as he used to be, once upon a time - back when I still had that stupid crush on him and followed him everywhere! At least it's not possible for me to go much pinker than I already am. He looks at me strangely, and I wonder what he's thinking. How much I've changed? Perhaps. Because I have changed an awful lot since the last time he saw me. Ever since he… went… I've had to change since then, first to take care of Tails, then to take care of us all - I've had to change a lot. So I look at him, looking at me, and I wonder just what he sees, what he thinks.