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.

Chapter 2: Hope

It was almost noon when Amy finally found the energy to get out of bed. Half the day was almost gone and her sudden lack of energy had been affecting her on and off for the past three weeks. As she slowly sat up on her bed, she couldn't help but focus on the food wrapper from where she worked laying in a crumpled mess on the floor. It was nothing flashy for a generic store brand item and it tasted just as good as the real item that it was supposed to be a knock off of just less sweet which is how Amy preferred things. Though Amy was a sweet and kind person didn't mean that every confection she ate had to be sweet as well. Normally she couldn't careless about writing on any packaging, but the writing in bold letters drew her attention. It was one of those company promises about their 100 guarantee promise to the customer about their purchase. The entire thought of a promise like that made Amy laugh. In her mind right now, she couldn't help but assume that friendship was supposed to be a promise that friends would be there for each other no matter what happens. Friends would never keep any secrets and no matter what happens between them, there should always be there for support for one another, but that didn't happen for this little pink hedgehog. At least she got some kind of support from her job, but it still would have been better if her friends were the ones helping her out. She could have used their help, but any help would have been greatly welcomed.

This lack of energy was affecting all parts of her life as well as her job quite terribly that her boss had insisted that it would be for the best if she take some time off from work. Even though Amy had protested against this many times, her boss had surprised her with adding that she would still be paid during her period of rest. For someone like Amy or probably anyone else something like this seemed unheard. Amy had never known anyone as kind as her boss to allow someone like her to take time off to recuperate and still get paid. Things like this would normally happen if someone was on maternity leave, but that wasn't Amy situation unless something miraculous happened to make her pregnant. Most bosses would just have fired someone in Amy's condition, but considering the laws these days it was probably cheaper to pay for Amy's leave then to be sued for discrimination.

It was not uncommon for Amy to sleep in late on certain days. Normally she would get up early and head up to the roof to watch the sunrise while she drank a nice warm cup of chamomile tea. It had to be the most favorite time of the day for her other than watching the sunset during the summer season at the beach or on that same rooftop. It was so peaceful at that time of the day that she could think clearly about anything that was bothering her, including things that concerned her relationship with Sonic. But for the last three weeks Amy had been missing the sunrise, and as of late she had been feeling quite tired and run down. Everyone said that it was probably the flu, but some of the symptoms did not feel like normal flu like symptoms. For starters she coughed up blood and had lost a severe amount of weight, and at times she had difficulty breathing or speaking. Dizziness, unconsciousness, burning of the mouth, cramps, nausea, as well as vomiting were other symptoms that she had dealt with a week after she had received her vaccination from Aeris. Not once did Amy let anyone about these other symptoms. She was not the type to put herself before others, it in fact the other way around. She was the type of person to bend over backwards to see her friends happy no matter what, even if it met sacrificing so much for them. Even though Amy did an okay job at first of hiding her symptoms in the end it proved to be no use when Sonic, on his bi-daily visits to check up on her did he discover about these other symptoms. Amy felt a bit embarrassed from the way he treated her, as if she was a little kid and it was even more awkward when Sonic had brought her to Aeris to check her over. Amy would rather have had another doctor examine her other than Aeris. She really didn't like how Aeris poked and prodded at her with her medical instruments. It almost felt as if she was trying to hurt Amy with them as she was examining her. Amy didn't even like the thought of getting another injection from Aeris after what had happened the last time, but Aeris had insisted to her and to Sonic that she needed it if she was to get better again.

After the examination, Aeris had told everyone including Sonic that what Amy was experiencing was a normal symptom of the flu strain that had been going around the city, and for some reason they all had bought her explanation. Then again anyone would believe Aeris because she was a doctor after all and everyone trusted people in her profession. Amy knew that there was something wrong with her, and she kept on protesting her case to her friends, but they all just ignored her for some reason. Sonic on the other hand was actually concerned for her well being. There was no way to explain why he was concerned about her. Maybe it was because of their long history of knowing each other, but for Amy it just did not make any sense. He shouldn't be concerned about her like this, but it was sort of a nice change then him ignoring or running away from her like he had done in the previous years. Somehow with all the attention that she was getting it just made her feel guilty. Then again she always had a tendency of putting everyone else's needs before her own. She felt like she was stealing Sonic away from Aeris, even though she was most likely more deserving of him than she was. Aeris seemed much more suited for Sonic then she had assumed she would have been. Amy knew that she was not a thief nor did she even plan on hurting anyone by doing something as hurtful as stealing someone else's guy. That was just not like her. She would rather just have Sonic leave her alone for the moment, even if that moment was just for a few days to be with his girlfriend.

Sonic had a girlfriend now, and for that reason it just didn't seem right for him to show this much attention towards her even if she was sick. Amy had to learn to accept the fact that Sonic was with someone now and even though she felt that he had been sending so many mixed signals, it just drove her emotionally crazy. She had assumed that after Sonic had finally admitted that he was seeing someone that he would slowly back off from all the time they had been spending together, but he did not do that and it felt sort of uncomfortable for Amy almost as if she was starting to become the thorn in Sonic and Aeris' relationship. It was just not right for Sonic to be paying so much attention to her even if she was ill. A major part of her just wanted him to just go away and never come back, and who would blame that part of her for even thinking about that. Amy had been bottling up her emotions ever since that day. After what he had done at that Christmas party and hiding it from her for that amount of time made Amy slowly hate the blue wonder. She was trying her best to make it seem that she was not hurt by what Sonic did to her that night. He had never given her a chance and all that time that he appeared to be allowing her to get close to him was just a lie. In some ways, Amy felt that she was being used.

Amy slowly got up from her bed as she made her way into the kitchen as slowly as possible. Even a task such as this was enough to tucker her out, but she didn't let anyone know it. Not even Sonic knew about her dwindling amount of energy. She felt that he should never know the extent of how her suffering. He just didn't deserve or even had the right to know, but she definitely knew that bottling up her emotions was not a smart thing to do even for this amount of time. She was tired of constantly crying when Sonic had hurt her so many times in the past and she did not want the others to feel sorry for her now or ever again. Besides where were they that night when Sonic had finally confronted her about his girlfriend. They never once showed her any sympathy or concern. When she needed a friend the most, they were just not there for the support she desperately needed to

As Amy finally made her way into the kitchen all that was on her mind right now was making a nice cup of tea. She loved a nice cup of chamomile whenever she felt down or ill. There was something about it that just perked her up again. The taste and aroma of the tea brought back numerous memories of when she was a little girl some of which were the few memories she could remember of her own mother. Even though they were few, they were her fondest of memories before she got shipped to the local orphanage and before she had met Sonic. Maybe it would have been better if she never had met him. If she only knew what these countless of years of knowing him would do to her then she would never be in this mess. She let out a heavy sigh as she placed one of her white mugs into the microwave. Right now she wasn't in the mood to sit and wait for the kettle to boil. She desperately needed that cup of tea and the fastest way she or anyone could think of was to place a mug full of water into the microwave, but once she placed the mug into the microwave and set the timer it felt longer then what would be expected for boiling water in a kettle. Her thoughts were broken when her microwave chimed indicating that the water was ready. She opened the microwave door and blew on the mug a bit before dunking the tea bag inside. Normally people would a tea bag a few times before taking it out, but Amy preferred to leave the tea bag in for the entire duration that she savored her tea. As she took that first sip of tea, she couldn't help but feel a bit dizzy that she dropped her cup of tea as started to pant heavily. The sound of the cup crashing and breaking onto the floor was amplified ten fold sending a massive tension headache all through her head. She never in all her days felt something as bad as this. Sure she had migraines, but this was nothing like it. The pain was so great that she actually felt like she wanted to cry about for her mother, a mother who had been dead for years. The pain intensified even more as Amy grabbed her head and collapsed to the ground blacking out.

By the time she had awakened again the sky was already dark and the moon had been out for hours. For about ten minutes she didn't open her eyes until she could gather her bearings. All she remembered was that she was trying to make some tea to help her feel better. She slowly opened her eyes and noticed that she was no longer on the floor but in her own bed. Amy noticed her arms were wrapped in some kind of cloth bandage, most likely because she had fallen on the pieces from the mug. She then sat up slowly in her bed for a second time, but something was different this time. In the far corner of her bedroom there was a chair that normally belonged in her kitchen, but it was brought into the room by someone other than her and right now she wished that damn blue hedgehog wasn't the one asleep in the chair. She would have rather have had him miles away and not watching over her like this. She was doing fine without him, but she still felt so weak. Even through she could have throw something at him with direct accuracy, she just didn't have the energy to throw anything at him that she eventually eased herself back under the bed sheets thinking that something like this would be best left for the morning instead.