Chapter 21

What Once Was…

After waving goodbye to Suzu as she left, Amy was once again, left alone in a giant house. Although there were creepy maids everywhere, Amy found solace in her room. But after being huddled in there for some time, one can only get exhausted of being kept in a stuffy room, so she left and went into the kitchen. She glanced at the calendar that was attached to the fridge door and saw that there were no lessons for the day. "Thank god for a free day. I was getting tired of doing these lessons back-to-back…" she muttered. But as she glanced further down the calendar, she saw that Sonic's parents were going to show up at the end of the month, and that made her nervous.

Amy marched out of the kitchen and upstairs to Sonic's study, where she saw him sitting there on his computer, watching YouTube videos. "JESUS, LADY… ever learned to knock? What if I was watching porn?!"

Amy's eyebrow crooked, "Do you REALLY watch porn in this study of yours?"

"I mean… no, not really, but I'm just saying WHAT IF—"

"Okay, yeah, that's cute, but um… your parents. What's the deal with them?"

"What do you mean?"

Amy walked into his office and sat in a chair that was across from his desk, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl. "Well, you never really told me anything else besides you fooling them into believing your married, so tell me: what's the deal with that?"

Sonic sighed, and looked away from his screen, "I told ya: they keep nagging at me about getting married and I kind of don't need that right now."

"But… wouldn't you think that maybe it's something you DID need right now…?"

"OH? And what's THAT supposed to mean?"

"Well, I'm just saying that you're a little boy that desperately needs to be mothered and survaillenced 24/7, so maybe you DO need to get married…"

Sonic laughed at her remarks, "You're kidding, right? What makes you think I need to be looked after? In case you haven't noticed, I'm living just fine without anybody."

Amy bit into her apple, smirking as she chewed, "I dunno~! Doesn't seem like that to me. Especially when you have poor little Suzu walking around with some weird single uncle that scares the girls away—"

"I do NOT scare the girls away!"

"Prove me wrong then: there's got to be someone SERIOUS that could've totally rolled with you on this idea of a fake marriage, hell—might've actually gotten married with you for real!"

Sonic sighed and looked off towards a picture on the wall, smiling fondly. "Well… There was somebody. Somebody special, that I think could've changed my mind on marriage…"

Amy held her breath, 'Oh, my God… Is he actually opening up to me?' She noticed the photo he was gazing at and saw an image of he and this girl with flowing chestnut hair and bright blue eyes. The two smiled at the camera and posed with peace signs while being at an amusement park of some type. Amy's eyes softened, "… Who is she?"

Sonic chuckled, leering at Amy, "At who? You getting jealous~?"

"Haha, cut the bullcrap, Sonic. Let me in and talk to me. All you do is shout and yell about how I'm your slave, and this and that, but I'm really curious…" she replied, taking another bite of her apple.

Sonic paused, chuckling once more. He stood from his seat and walked over to the photo, picked it up from the wall and gazed at it intently, "… She was my kind of girl. A total babe. She was smart, funny, and one hell of a princess."

Amy looked at him confusingly and before she could even ask, he turned to her, "Oh, I mean that literally. She's a literal princess. Of her own kingdom. Back when we were running the streets, she had my back and I had hers. We were one badass team."

"PFFT. 'Running the streets'? What are you, some kind of mobster?"

"Back when we were protesting the poor welfare of her people, you heartless bitch."

"Haha, sorry, sorry! But wow: an actual princess. So, I take it she has to marry someone her family chose for her or however that goes for royal weddings?"

Sonic stopped smiling, and placed the picture back against the wall. "… Pretty much. I gave her a choice, and she chose her kingdom. And even now, to this day," he said as he walked back to his seat and reclined back, smiling, "I can't even find any reason or will to be mad at her. She's one stand up lady that's all about her kingdom. I don't think I've ever met someone that selfless before in my life.

'Wow… I don't think I've ever seen Sonic so… at peace before.' Amy smiled at her view of him, "Do you still talk to her? At all?"

Sonic sat back up, and looked back at his computer screen. "Nope. It's been a couple of years since we've last spoken. But we sort of just agreed not to revisit each other anymore."

Amy frowned, "Oh… I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It happens, it just wasn't meant to be. And with that being said: I'm not meant to be married. How can I settle for anything less?"

For the briefest moment, she felt a small twinge of jealousy stab her in the chest. She looked back at the photo of the pretty girl and couldn't help but feel envious of Sonic's sentimental value towards her. He never spoke about her in such a kind of reminiscent way, never showered her with compliments of that nature unless he was drunk and have merely half-hazardly tried to sleep with her without even going through the trouble that others have done for her in the past.

Amy looked down at her apple, feeling the heavy burden of Shadow's letter and seeing him with Shail, mixing in with the rollercoaster that was with Sonic. Yeah, she's thought of marriage before, but Sonic made a good point: why settle for less when it's not the person you want?

"Hey… you okay?" asked Sonic curiously. Amy shook her head, reviving her of her mental unconsciousness, "Oh! I'm fine. It's just nice to hear you speak so nicely about a person. Really beats your usual yelling at people."

"I'm not that bad. And don't push it, slave."

"Theeeere's the charm. Look, I'm just saying, it's nice to hear you open up. Wish you did it more often."

"Oh, yeah?" Sonic leaned over his desk, his elbows touching the edges, providing him support. Amy blushed at his proximity, "… I mean… Like I said… It's just nice not to hear you be mean all the time. Especially towards me…"

Sonic reached his hand out, placing it on her warm cheek, "You don't like it when I'm mean to you? So… what are you saying you prefer then?"

Amy's heart began beating quickly, her face turning more crimson. "W-Well… I would prefer if you didn't call me 'slave' all the time… and actually called me by my name…"

"Is that something you might like? Me calling you by your name… 'Amy'?" he whispered huskily, shifting his hand from her cheek to her chin. Amy looked away for a brief moment, 'Oh my God, he's so close… I wish he wasn't so close… I can't concentrate with him being this close!' She began to stutter under her breath, but before she can even make a sentence, she felt Sonic's hand lower down towards her collar bone. "What else would you happen to like? I mean… it's not like we've been able to have a chance to explore your 'interests'…" he said with a smile, caressing her with his index finger.

'This can't be happening!' "O-Okay! That's a funny joke! Thanks for opening up about that girl, I-I think I'm gonna go up to my room now—"

Amy rose from her seat and attempted to hurry away, only to feel her arm being tugged at the opposite end; Sonic stood from his seat as well, maintaining a grip on her. He stared at her intently, smirking at her, "Man, you're just such a pervert. You want me to touch you that badly?"

Immediately seeing red, she whisked her arm back her way and continued her walk back to her room, slamming the door then wilted to the floor. "W-Why does he have to do that!? It's not fair!" she yelled as she fell forward and started pummeling the floor with her fists in protest. 'I-It's like he knows what I'm really thinking… But how can he even toy with me like that after talking about a past fling he had feelings for!?'

Amy felt shivers through her skin, " I don't understand it at all… If he cares about that girl so much… why am I here?"