"Sonic?"
His ear twitched. Something soft ceased his arm and nudged. He grumbled and rolled over.
"Sonic!" the hushed voice protested. Fingers pinched his wrist.
"Mmph, what?" he muttered, his eyes scrunching up in annoyance. A paw shook his sholder.
"Wake up!" the words caught tearfully in the speaker's throat. He groaned, and rolled back over, eyes still firmly closed.
"What is it, Amy?"
"M'scared!" she quavered.
"Why, what for?" Sonic moaned. He wriggled further between the covers.
"I keep thinking I can see things moving in the shadows, and I keep thinking it might be Eleanor, and I can't go to sleep because I think that's just what she's waiting for!"
"It's not here, it'd set off the alarm."
"You wouldn 't hear it if you were asleep!" Amy snapped sulkily. Except Sonic seemed to be asleep again already. Amy glared at him, peacefully resting underneath the covers. She shivered in the night air, beginning to wonder why she'd ever left her own camp bed on the other side of the extinguished fire. Even though she couldn't sleep, at least she'd be in the warm. She certainly hadn't earned any sympathy from Sonic. She was tired and starting to feel a little angry.
When he'd had a nightmare, at least she'd cared enough to listen to his fears and comfort him with a special breakfast. She hadn't laughed at him like Tails had. She glared over to where he was sleeping, buried under his sheets. They'd talked among themselves as though she wasn' there, ignoring her as they planned their next moves as though she wouldn't have any valuable suggestions. She might well have done, but no-one ever thought to ask. They just decieded whatever they wanted to do and left her behind most of the time.
It wasn't really her fault that she'd been kidnapped so many times, when nobody was there to help her when Eggman attacked. If he ever found one of the 'Sonic-and-Tails-team'alone, it never took long before the other showed up to help...well okay Tails'd had to fight Robotnik alone on the Ark, but that didn't count because Sonic'd been shot into outer space moments before.
"I bet you only let Robotnik trick you because you thought Tails was in danger!" she snapped aloud at the sleeping hedgehog. One sleepy eye snapped open.
"What?" his voice cracked with weariness.
"On the ARK! Hmph! I bet if Eleanor attacked me in the night you'd sleep right though it!" Amy whined. She stamped back to her own sleeping bag and pulled the covers sharply over her head. She didn't notice that her last comment left Sonic wide awake and suddenly worried. She'd reminded him of last night's dream and now he couldn't sleep. He got up and shook her sholder.
"Amy!"
"Go away!" she squealed. He sighed and sat down beside her.
"What's wrong, Ames?"
"You all think I'm stupid!" came the muffled reply. Sonic almost laughed out loud.
"No we don't!" he managed.
"You do! You never listen to me!"
"I'm listening now! And you got Knux to listen to yahs earlier. That was quite something, getting him to cool off!"
"It wasn't hard. You're always picking fights with him, that's why he doesn't listen to you!"
"He's always accusing me of stealing his emeralds!" Sonic protested.
"Maybe he wouldn't if you respected him more."
"I do respect him!"
"Is that why you call him a knucklehead?"
"You know I don't mean it when I say that," said Sonic. He glanced over to the small lump of Amy underneath the bedclothes. "Amy?"
"What?"
"I don't know what you meant about the Ark earlier. I wanted to help you!" he paused. No reaction. "I woulda given Eggman a real chaos emerald if I'd had one... Just so you'd be safe," he continued slowly, now staring at his gloved paws. Amy's covers rustled as she peeped out.
"Really?"
"Yeah. You'd have helped me get it back though, right!"
Amy nodded. To his surprise, she did not leap out and embrace him, squealing her delight, like she always did. The moment seemed to precious to ruin. For the first time they were talking, acutally properly talking , without Sonic trying to run away or make excuses not to listen. There had to be some way to make this moment last. Carefully, she crawled out to sit beside Sonic. She gently grapsed his paw. He seemed startled out of some reverie and stared down at their joined paws in wonder.
"Sonic... Do you ever think much about back when we were on the Ark?" she asked.
"Sure. Like sometimes I dream about being trapped in that space capsule, knowing it's going to explode. Sometimes I'm surrounded by chaos emeralds I can't reach, other times there's not even Tails' fake one there." he told her. He winced slightly before continuing. "Sometimes I dream I'm still trapped inside when it explodes!" he stared straight into Amy's eyes as he spoke, and she felt a cold chill of guilt creep down her spine.
"I'm sorry about what I said just now," she murmured. "About you not wanting to rescue me."
"You seemed pretty upset about something."
"I just feel left out. You never let me come anywhere with you!"
"It's dangerous. You might get hurt." Sonic replied. His paws tensed under hers.
"So why did you let me come this time?"
"Seems you get in trouble on your own too! I guess it's safer for you to tag along afterall!" he reflected, smiling slightly.
"Huh! I don't need a babysitter!" Amy cried, dramatising her dissapointment by dropping his paw and turning to stand with her back towards him, arms folded over her chest. "I'd stand a chance in a fight if you were there to help me! I could even help you too, y'know!"
"I didn't mean it like that. You don't know what it's like to-"
His appology was interupted by an uproar in the near distance. A terrible screaming cry which sliced though the chilly night air. Tails awoke instantly with a startled gasp, and Sonic leapt to his feet, ready to protect his freinds.
A herd of wild horses thundered into view, blundering in blind panic towards the campsite. At that same instant the alarm sounded from Tails' machine. As they drew nearer, the animals scattered messily; startled by the campfire's flames. Amy gasped in fright and backed up against Sonic as several hoofbeats barely missed trampling their shoes.
At once they realised the reason for the horses' fright when Eleanor's menacing red eyes appered among the trees in the the near distance. Amy flinched when Sonic sped from her side in persuit of the robot as the horses continued their panicked flight across the fields behind her. Tails brushed past, wordlessly ceasing the light green emerald from Sonic's backpack which he'd left behind and flew after the foolhardy hedgehog. Amy hesitated only a moment before jogging after him.
"Sonic!" Tails called out as they caught up, tossing the emerald towards him. He leapt to catch the flying gem, but Eleanor bolted upwards suddenly abandonning the fight for the safety of the skies above.
"Tails, lift us up there!" Sonic cried to the kitsune who was wistfully watching his creation glide away.
"No." he replied, softly.
"What?" Sonic grabbed his arm, pulling his gaze away from the spectacle. "What's wrong with you, we could have caught it!"
"NO, Sonic. Let her go this time, okay? She won't bother us again tonight," Tails replied slowly. He turned to head back towards the camp. Sonic shot an exasperated look over towards Amy, beseeching her to help him understand the kitsune's behaviour.
"She won't bother us!" Sonic repeated, jogging after him. "I thought we were here to destroy it!"
Tails did not reply except for a slight shake of his head. Amy saw him wipe away a small tear as he brushed past her.
"She's dangerous, Tails! We can't just let her run free! Don't you want to stop her before she does any more harm?" she called after him. The mere thought of it alarmed her.
"Right!" Sonic agreed. "We've got to stop it before it attacks anyone else!"
"She only wanted the Emerald..." Tails murmured. "Knux just got in the way."
"It's his duty to guard the Emerald!" Amy scolded.
"And it's ours to guard the chaos emeralds!" Sonic added, refering to the President's orders after the disaster aboard the Space Colony Ark. "But you already sealed one inside a vicious robot! If you don't want it destroyed, what do you suggest we do? Hand over the rest and just hope it'll leave us alone?"
"No," Tails whimpered quietly, flinching at Sonic's harsh tone. He reached his sleeping bag by the campfire and pulled the covers protectively around himself. Sonic scowled at him.
"I should have done this solo all along," he muttered, ramming the light green emerald into his backpack. "Try and stay out of trouble for a while, okay?" he cried, glancing at Amy before speeding off in the direction Eleanor had taken.
Frowning angrily after him, Amy wandered over to the pile of bedclothes where Tails had taken refuge and nudged it gingerly.
"Tails? Are you all right? What happened back there?" she asked, bemused.
"It shouldn't have to be like that!" came a muffled reply. "I don't want to see anyone else get hurt...and that means Eleanor too!"
"But what else can we do? You can't just let her run wild!" Amy complained.
"If Sonic hadn't taken the light green emerald then maybe I could have trapped her for long enough to shut her down somehow," Tails replied, sulkily, after a short pause to think about it.
"You won't...just don't try to follow her alone, okay?" Amy replied, softly. "At least wait until you've got the green emerald back!"
"Sonic won't come back until he's stopped her," Tails said, solomly. Amy shook her head.
"He will, he's just ...running off some steam that's all. He'll be back in the morning, you'll see!"
"I don't know," said Tails, twisting deeper into his sleeping bag. He was starting to understand why Amy seemed to annoy Sonic so much. Maybe if he pretended to be asleep, the girl would leave him alone. He needed to plan. He needed to find Eleanore before Sonic did , or he'd never have the chance to reconcile with her.