She awoke, drenched in sweat with a strangled scream dying in her throat. The dream, no the nightmare was fading from her memory faster than she could try and recall it. It was as though she were trying to capture smoke as it faded away infront of her eyes. With a shaking hand Amy reached for the glass of water on her nightstand and drank deeply. This was the second time in a week her night had been disturbed by bad dreams. Although this particular one was disappearing fast the feelings it evoked remained. The questions remained. There was only one person she knew who could help her get to the bottom of it all…
x
The waterfall was a picture of calmness and serenity. It cascaded down the hillside into a roaring blue river which weaved through the landscape bringing a sense of peace and tranquility to the wildlife gently lapping at its cool waters.
Something royal blue shot through the mouth of the waterfall. Its triumphant yell echoed around the valley.
"Wooohooo!"
The blue ball landed gracefully in the grass bellow, closely followed by a red figure which gently floated down with its arms stretched out before it. The red creature had a large green shard in his tightly balled fist.
"That was amazing!" The blue figure thrilled. It unfurled itself to reveal a young blue hedgehog with bright read sneakers. His companion looked less than amused.
"Amazing?" It barked. "You almost got us killed."
The hedgehog smiled a charming smirk and slapped the red echidna on his back.
"Relax Knux." He laughed. "Everything was under control."
Knuckles returned his smirk. "You weren't so cocky when the walls started closing in." He remarked. "Someones little blue tail was definitely twitching."
The blue hedgehog dismissed him with a wave of his white gloved hand.
"Nah, I wasn't worried." He smiled. "I knew you'd get that gear jammed in time. After that it was a walk in the park."
The red echidna rolled his eyes. "Last time I walked in the park there wasn't so many badniks."
Sonic the hedgehog winked at him. "You're clearly not going to the same parks as I am. How many shards left now?"
The echidna placed the green piece of glass in his backpack and smiled at his friend.
"Just one left now." He said. "You know, you don't have to come with me. I can handle this on my own."
The blue hedgehog arched his eyebrow. "And miss out on all of the fun?" He said in a mock offended voice. "No way. Besides, It's kind of my fault the master emerald got smashed in the first place."
It was the echidnas turn to cock his eyebrow. "Kind of?"
Sonic waved his hands defensively. "It wasnt all me if you remember." He pointed out. "Besides, Eggman was about to use it to blow up Sunset heights."
Both of their faces darkened as their minds drifted back to Christmas aboard the egg carrier. The fear they had felt as they tumbled uncontrollably towards almost certain death. Fortunately it had worked out ok. Sonic found that things often did for him.
"So where's next?" he asked his companion brightly, banishing the horrors of the last few months to the back of his mind.
"The Labyrinth zone."
Sonic groaned.
Knuckles laugh boomed around the valley. "Don't worry." He chuckled. "I'll let you hold my hand so you don't get lost."
x
Tails ducked under his desk just as the fizzing ball of wires sat on top of it exploded. Despite being alone and frustrated he still couldn't bring himself to swear. Instead he kicked his chair hard. He immediately regretted it and stumbled over to Sonics hammock where he nursed his injured toe.
In the months since eggmans last attack the little fox had spent most of his time working through the tech Eggman had left discarded on the carrier when he tried to Kamikaze it with half the restoration on board. Fortunately they had all survived and some of the information was still salvageable.
That didn't mean that it was always useful, or that it was always safe to go poking around in it. The last few badniks and computers that Tails had tried to interrogate had self destructed.
When he'd regained feeling in his toes Tails limped over to the desk and scraped the remnants of his latest project into the bin. There was a polite cough behind him. Tails span on his heel.
"Amy!" he exclaimed, smiling a the pink hedgehog in the red dress as she sauntered through the open door. "Long time no see. If you're looking for Sonic I…"
"No, I wanted to see you." Amy said quietly. Tails sensed a tension in her voice that he was unused to. Amy was normally the most happy go lucky of their group. Even when faced with insurmountable odds she would be the one holding it together for the others and cheering them up. It was disconcerting to see her so withdrawn.
Tails settled himself in his chair and motioned her to the one by the window. She sat there quietly with her hands on her lap for a few moments before speaking.
"You're a scientist right?" She said.
Tails laughed and motioned to the gadgets and gizmos adorning his walls.
"Do you know much about dreams?" She asked, her cheeks were glowing red.
Tails shrugged. "A little, why what's up?"
Amy closed her eyes. Tails was shocked to see she was fighting back tears. He leapt down from her chair and took her hand in his.
"What's wrong?" He asked softly.
Amy sighed heavily. "I've been having these dreams. Bad dreams."
Tails squeezed her hand reassuringly. "That's not surprising given everything that happened at Christmas. You nearly died. Several times."
Amy smiled sadly. "That's not it." She said. "Tails do you remember my Tarot cards?"
Tails scratched his chin. "Oh yeah," He answered. "You used to be into all that when you were a kid. I remember. You do know that stuff is all made up though?"
"Some people believe that yes." She replied stiffly. "But it's not the cards themselves that are the issue. I found them the other day in my attic, hidden away behind some boxes."
"So?" Tails prompted.
"So I don't remember hiding them." Amy explained. "In fact I didn't remember much about them at all until I saw them again. Isn't that strange?"
Tails wasn't convinced. "I found my old teddy bear in the attic last month. I can't say I'd given Mr. Snuggles much thought until I saw him again either."
Amy shook her head and leapt up from the window seat. She began pacing uncomfortably around the room. "This is different." She muttered. "They were such an important part of who I was, why would I hide them?"
"We all go through phases." Tails began to argue but Amy cut across.
"Since I found them I've been having these dreams. Almost every night. Terrible dreams filled with pain and fear."
Again Tails shrugged. "Like I said, you went through a lot. Some repressed feelings are natural."
"It's not so much the dreams themselves." Amy said uneasily. "It's the questions they've left me with in the morning."
Tails cocked his head curiously.
"Tails I can't remember a thing about myself before I met Sonic." Amy said softly. "Can you?"
He thought hard. "You've never told us about your life before." He said eventually.
"And you've never asked." Amy answered. "No one has, including me. No one has ever asked how or why I came to be on little planet with no memory of my family or my previous life."
Tails sank back into his chair, she had a point. It had never occurred to ask her about her past. It wasn't through lack of interest. He liked Amy very much as a friend and felt that, second to Sonic, he probably knew her best of anyone. But he had never been curious about her past.
"It's like there's some sort of fog over my past." Amy said anxiously. "Like its stopped me asking questions about myself all of these years. Stopped anyone else for that matter."
Tails thought hard. "There must be some logical explanation." He said more to himself than Amy.
The pink Hedgehog stood in the middle of the room. There was a pink 'poof' and a large hammer appeared in her hand.
"And then there's this." She said, waving the hammer. "How do I do it? And why have none of us ever thought to question it?"
Tails clutched his head in his hands. She was right. He was a man of science yet he had never been curious about how one of his best friends was able to summon a giant hammer from thin air at will. He was no stranger to his friends having unusually abilities. He himself was a flying fox with two tails. But most of his friends were able to give a reasonable account of why they had such extraordinary gifts.
He stood up and gently took the hammer from Amy. He turned it over in his hands. It was just that, a hammer. Large and yellow but a hammer none the less. He turned to meet Amy's eye.
"What do you want me to do?" He asked.
Amy took a deep breath. "I want you to help me work out where I came from." She said quietly.
Tails didn't need to think about it. "Of course I'll help you." He said, giving her a reassuring smile. "We should head to little planet. That's where this all started. Maybe we can find some clues there."
"Oh thank you Tails!" Amy exclaimed, She flew her arms around his neck. He smiled and patted her on the back.
"I'll just call Sonic and…"
"No," Amy interrupted, pulling away. "Please, I don't want you to tell him anything about this."
"Why?" Tails asked curiously.
Amy looked uncomfortable again.
"We've both come a long way since we first met." She said, not meeting his eye. "I don't want to remind him of how I used to be."
Tails cast his mind back to the hammer happy Sonic fan in the little green skirt. The fox had always found Amy and Sonics friendship to be a little complicated for his liking. But even so, he knew the blue hedgehog wouldn't want to be kept in the dark about this.
"Amy, if you've repressed this memory I cant imagine that its a good one." He argued.
Amy shook her head defiantly. "It's not just me that's repressed it though is it? None of us remember." She countered. "Look, I appreciate you talking this through with me but this is something that I can't ignore. I'll go to Little Planet on my own."
Tails rose quickly from his chair. "No, I can't let you do that on your own. Regardless of what you might find about your past, we still don't know where Eggman is. It's not a good idea for any of us to be off on our own right now."
Amy smiled appreciatively. "But you wont tell Sonic?" She checked.
Tails considered this. "Unless I HAVE to." He said. "But if anything bad comes up I'm going to call him."
"Deal!" Amy agreed.
She set off to pack for their adventure, leaving Tails wondering if he had done the right thing.
