The Kindness of a Young Maiden

Sonic was racing back to the entrance of Mana Village through the forest. He was doing a couple flips over logs and swinging from tree branch to another. But then, he comes to a walking pace when he sees a figure at the entrance of the village. As he got closer, the figure became clearer. It was a tall rabbit, wearing a purple, long-sleeve dress with matching purple slip-on boots while wearing a purple headband. She was also carrying a wooden walking stick in her right hand while waving her left hand in the air at Sonic.

"Good morning, Sonic!"

"Oh! Hey, Vanilla!" he greeted as he approach her. "What are you doing here at the entrance by yourself?"

"Oh, I was waiting for Amy to come back from the forest. I sent her on an errand to get herbs for me but usually, she would be on one of her morning walks" she replied.

"Herbs?"

"For my injuries that I got from ten years ago" She rubbed her right hip where the injury is. "They have been acting up lately but I'm sure Amy will be back soon with the herbs."

"So, how long has she been gone for?" he asked.

"Amy has been gone for over an hour, so she should be back soon…" Vanilla then looks over his shoulder. Her lips curved into a smile. "Oh! Here she comes now."

Sonic turns around to see his best friend, Amy Rose.

She was a pink hedgehog wearing a long dark red top with a low back which it is mounted the top to a white strapless top with a yellow outline. Connecting the top is a red flowing skirt that opens up in the middle and goes out to the side that has been dyed in a lovely red colour with dyed orange, peach and yellow faded on the bottom. Around her neck is her golden choker with a shade of ruby red and her pink quills has grown down past her shoulder with her three bangs that cover her face. Her headpiece has a white wave-shaped cotton piece with a dark red cloth that acts as a head scarf. Both the top and head scarf has the same details pictures of white scrolls on the outline.

She also has bag with a shell on the flap that was connected to her belt that's colour with the same beige colour. Her light red sleeve caps with a yellow outline that splits in the middle with seashell on the side that's covers her baby blue arm gloves that goes up to her elbow with her golden bracelets. Her legs are covered with the same baby blue colour as the arm covers with one ankle flap with a yellow outline while wearing blue slip-on boots.

As Amy approaches the entrance, Sonic pulls a smile across his face and waved at Amy who was surprised to see him and Vanilla. Sonic and Amy know each other since they were five years old. She also lost her mother, Amethyst, her father, Noel, and her little brother, Cam due to the "Great Disaster". After they were gone, Vanilla has taken her in as her own daughter and became an older sister-figure to her youngest daughter, Cream. Even Mayor Kate also sees her as a little sister as well. Around the village; Amy was pretty famous for her dancing skills, just like her mother and often do dance performances sometimes and her father was one of the soldiers who fought ten years ago.

For the better part of ten years, Sonic and Amy have been best friend. Even though they are "just friends", Amy also has a crush on the hedgehog due to their time together, although, she tries to hide it from him. She doesn't know if he has the same feelings for her as she does for him. She really wants to tell him how she feels but her shyness always gets in the way.

"Morning, Ames" he greeted. To be honest, Amy always loves that nickname that Sonic calls her. It has been going on for seven years now.

"Morning to you too, Sonic. Back from your morning training with Kate?" she asked.

"Just now. I could have gone all day but Kate said I don't have to push it or else I'll have an injury hamstring. You know how she is; always caution."

"Well, maybe she is right. She is your teacher and after all, she has been looking out for your well-being ever since you guys started training together" she reminded him.

Sonic scratches his quills. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Amy just smiled at his remark. She then realised that Sonic was not the only one here. She looked over to the person behind Sonic.

"Oh! Good Morning, Ms Vanilla." She respectfully bowed to her guardian. "Have you been waiting here for me?"

"Of course. I did send you into the woods for me, after all. I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have done that to a young girl like you." Vanilla feels bad for herself.

"Don't feel bad yourself. It's not your fault. It was a nice morning walk, after all." Said Amy

"I'm sure it was, but –"

"Beside, you're always taking such good care of me. This is the least I can do" Amy then reaches for her bag and pulled out something dark green. "Here, these are the herbs that you wanted, right?" It was the kind of special herb that helps anyone with her injuries. Amy then careful passes them to Vanilla.

"Oh, thank you so much." Vanilla put the herbs in her dress pouch. "They should really soothe my old wounds."

"From the cataclysm ten years ago? When those monsters attack you?" Amy asked.

Vanilla nodded. "Yes, my dear. Although, the pain does still come back from time to time but I didn't let that hold me down."

Sonic then looked at Amy. "I'm still impressed that she was able to suppress the pain and take care of Cream and you for so long."

Amy just smiles. "Well, as I recall, she was a tough cookie back then and still is."

"That's right, my dear." Said Vanilla.

"If they start to hurt again, you let me know, ok?" Amy reminded her guardian. She then lowers her head in sadness. "I still need you in the distant future. I really want you to live longer; longer than my parents, you know?"

Sonic also gets what she's feeling. They both lost their family ten years ago and they have been suffering the same kind of pain as well. But they manage to pull through along the way and begin a life anew. Even though they are orphans, they acted like a big family.

Vanilla understands her concerns for the future and how graceful the girl has become. She reminded her of Amy's mother at her age. She was also impressed of how much she has grown over the years.

"You are very kind, child. Now, do you want to come over for some tea and cake?" she asked.

"Gee, I love to but I can't, Vanilla" Amy answered.

Vanilla looked surprised. "Why not, Amy? Are you and Sonic going on a date or something?"

A red blush appears on both Sonic and Amy's face when Vanilla made that remark. They looked at each other and back at Vanilla.

"WHAT?" Sonic barked.

"Oh! No, no, no! It's n-n-nothing like th-th-that!" Amy stuttered. She looked at Sonic, who still has a surprised look on his face.

"It's just, um, just we have to go and see Cosmo!" she said. "She asks me to get some plants for her research. I have to deliver them to her as soon as possible." Sonic signs in relief as he puts his hand to his chest. He feels like his heart was about to pop out of his chest!

"Wait a minute, dear. You two can't go and see Cosmo right now" said Vanilla.

"Hmm? Why not?" Amy asked.

"It's almost time for Cosmo to go and offer prayers at the Tree of Mana."

"Oh, that's right. I almost forgot." Amy remembers that her other best friend, Cosmo is one of the of the Mana maidens of Illusia. Her prayers to the Mana Tree are a scared ritual that gives thanks to the Mana goddess. Amy wants to see her plant friend but the last thing she wants to do was get in the way of Cosmo's duties. Sonic then step in front of Amy.

"Don't worry, Vanilla. We won't get in her way," Sonic said. "To be fair, Kate did mention that to me before, so yeah, you don't have to tell me twice, ok?"

Vanilla just smiles at the two teen hedgehogs. She knew she can trust them since they are all grown up.

"Very well. I will see you kids next time and thank you for the herbs, Amy." She bows to them and walks back to the village.

"We'll see you later, Ms Vanilla!" Amy said. She then turned to Sonic.

"Well, let's go see how Cosmo doing!" Sonic announce to Amy who nods in agreement as they walk through the entrance, into the Mana Village.

A/N: Once again, with this chapter done, we still have a long way to go until the end. I manage to get an intro of another character done and next one will be up soon. I'm so sorry about last week cause it was Mother's Day and I had work that day as well so I didn't have enough time to finish this chapter, so yeah. Oh! I had TAFE so I was pretty busy

Also, I'm doing Project 1 for TAFE soon and some work that I was supposed to do as well that I haven't done in a MONTH! Yeah, I'm pretty lazy when it comes to TAFE work but not when it comes to coming up stories like this. Anyway, after I have finish this story, I'm also going to write up another story that going to be a crossover but you'll never guess which one it is? You guys can guess all you like if you want to, I will reveal the answer near the end of one of my other stories or this one.

Speaking of stories, most of you a expecting more chapters of "Kung Fu Hedgehog", right? Well, I will continue that story, just be patience and I might get it done before and during the three-week holiday coming up.

Lastly, I'll try to get these done weekly or every two weeks whatever I have time on my hand but I do have a three-week holiday coming up so I do have enough time.

Until we meet again,

TheDragonLord2912

I do not own any Children of Mana or Sonic related characters. They are property of Square Enix (the guys behind Final Fantasy) and Sega