CHAPTER SONG: N/A

AUTHOR: I would like to thank Zoggerific for helping me out a lot with this and the last chapter with feedback so I hope you all enjoy!

TWO

Sonic had been shot.

And, as it turns out, a bullet wound is even more uncomfortable than Sonic had imagined.

His skin was cold and clammy; making a herculean effort to breathe. Torture is roaring through his lower back and making it difficult for him to focus. He had to squeeze his eyes shut, grit his teeth, and force himself to pay chaos is unbearable.

Several people are shouting and too many of them are touching him, and he wanted their hands surgically removed. They keep shouting "Sir!" as if they're still waiting for him to give them orders, as if they have no idea what to do without his instruction. The realization exhausts him.

"Sir, can you hear me?" Another cry. But this time, a voice he doesn't detest.

"Sir, please, can you hear me—"

"I've been shot, Silver," Sonic managed to say. He opens his eyes. Looks into his watery ones. "I haven't gone deaf."

All at once the noise disappears. The soldiers shut up. Silver looks at him. Worried. Sonic sighs.

"Take me back," Sonic tells him, shifting, just a little. The world tilts and steadies all at once. "Alert the medics and have my bed prepared for our arrival. In the meantime, elevate my leg and continue applying direct pressure to the wound. The bullet has broken or fractured something, and this will require surgery."

Silver says nothing for just a moment too long."The bomb, sir." His voice is a nervous, shaky thing. "There was no gunshot. You had stepped on a bomb."

"What?" Sonic's voice was hoarse as he attempted to push himself up when pain shot to his lower half. "Fuck!"

"Sir!" Silver yelled over the noise. "You're legs are wounded. It's best you don't move!"

"It hurts so much," Sonic tells him. It's getting harder for him to speak. He takes a small breath and runs a shaky hand to his knee to feel a sharpness sticking out. He's sweating in an excessive way that isn't lost on him.

"Don't look, sir." Silver moves to help him up, but Sonic grabbed his arm.

"What the hell is wrong with my legs?"

"It's bad, sir."

"Silver,"Sonic said, his voice uneven now. "What the hell is wrong with my legs?"

Silver looks up, his eyes full of terror. "They've been blown off." He said, lifting the hedgehog up as bones cracked and flesh hanged loose.

Sonic let out a powerful scream of pain and agony.

His chest was heaving and he dripped in sweat as he sprang up from his bed.

The memory was accelerating inside his head. He wanted them to slow so he could breathe and they slowly did. His breaths came in gasps. The room felt like spinning and he clenched his bedsheets, trying to relax himself.

He felt so sick.

Breakfast was the usual.

After his nightmare, Sonic had taken a shower and met with Sally in the kitchen. She had been making breakfast for them. He sat on his side of the table as Sally sat on the other. Neither ever looking up or acknowledging each other's presence.

His eyes wandered to his watch.

It read: eight forty five.

It was time he made it to work.

He gathered his belongings which Sally had placed on the living room table within a briefcase. His eyes lowered, glancing over at his wife focused on her cellphone. He wished she would at least say something.

Anything.

It was his first day to work after a years.

As moments passed, he gave up with a sigh and made his way to the door. It was useless. She probably wouldn't bother doing that after their last argument. They still weren't talking to each other.

Then her voice echoed in the room as he turned the doorknob. "Goodluck at work," Sally offered, never looking up.

"Thanks." Sonic replied with a sad stare and just like that they said their goodbyes and that was that.

He wished she would of at least looked at him.

Sonic rapped his knuckles against his solid oak desk. It's flawless. One of a kind. It also came with a hefty price tag. The college was happy to let him bend the rules a little when they realized he was a veteran.

Rules, rules, rules. The only downside to teaching. Still, someone has to show these students what's really going on. They've heard enough bullshit from profs who went straight from high school to college to teaching and never once made it in the real world.

Sonic opened his briefcase and arrange his lecture notes on his desk. He was nervous. He wasn't a shy person but this month was proving to be a new experience considering he hadn't gone out in a very long time except for that pitiful book signing and much less been the spotlight of a crowd.

A large part of him wanted to get the hell out of there, regretting every decision of accepting such a job. He couldn't back away now though. It was much too late and so he gave a sigh, leaning against his palms.

He only hoped it would go well.

Perhaps, this could help him forget that lousy book signing meeting. That had been just pitiful and embarrassing. He assumed that not much would come but his expectations were much lower than he had initially assumes.

But looking back it was not all bad…

That thought ran through Sonic's head as he remembered that unexpected surprise.

At least he had gotten that touchy confession from a fan. He smiled at the memory. He hadn't heard praising words in a very long time. It made him feel warm inside.

Especially that cute smile she had…

Sonic held his head with a groan.

He had to stop it with these thoughts.

The main set of doors at the top of the auditorium opened as students flooded in but Sonic kept his mind occupied by other matters– or rather, on a specific person. He let his mind wander: what if he saw her on campus again? He shook his head. The school was too big? Why did he care byway? It was ridiculous. He had to focus on what he had to do today rather than daydream about some young girl.

And as if fate had a different idea, Sonic glanced around the room and spotted a girl sitting in one of the desks with a fluffy pen in her hand, biting it.

And not just any girl.

That girl.

The girl with from the library, barely hidden in tight olive green cargo pants and black crop top, crossed legged with black strappy heel sandals. Her long quills, delicately around her shoulders. In an instant, their eyes connect.

Sonic felt as if he could just reach out and feel something tangible.

That's all there is as the people around them got settled, but he didn't even see them anymore. All he saw was her. That girl … the girl he couldn't help but feel tense around.

This was crazy.

What were the odds that he would be her instructor?

Surely, she found this just as crazy as he did.

And by the looks of it, she did.

Her eyes glimmer in the room, a curious smile on her face.

Sonic swallowed hard, shifting his eyes down to his notes.

"My name is Sonic T. Hedgehog," Sonic began as class time began, licking his lips and facing the class of individuals. "I will be your instructor for Creative Writing, which is basically the art of making things up, for the rest of this semester and I hope we can all get along. "

Silence.

Somehow, having her watch him made him more nervous.

He cleared his throat. "All waitlisted students can come up after I'm done speaking but I'm letting you all know now, ahead of time, that your final will be a unique short story that captures a reader's attention and conveys emotion."

Again, all he received were blank stares but out of all of them, hers still seemed to burn right through him.

He tried to ignore it.

"For now, let's get the boring stuff under control and you will have to give your representation of the quotes I will hand out." He explained, as he smiled uneasily. "Alright, well let's begin."

"I heard you were an adventurer before, is that true?" A nerdy beaver commented rather loudly as he shifted his desk closer to Sonic who twitched at the question.

That was the question he was afraid to hear. "Yeah, I was…" he muttered, almost unwillingly.

"Bummer you lost your legs though."Another student commented only stabbing the wound in his heart even more.

"Yeah…" Sonic muttered, lowering his head.

Another jumped in."How'd you lose them?"

Another stab.

"Yeah, tell us!"

Stab. Stab. Stab.

They just kept coming.

Sonic let out a breath, awkwardly smiling. "The Great War…"

"That's so gnarly!" A squirrel exclaimed loudly."The war was ten years ago. Right?"

"That's right! You were part of that?" Questioned a bear with a look of amazement.

"Wasn't that a five-year war with the Overlanders and Mobians?"

"That's right! Guys were drafted for that!"

"My dad was sent to fight in that war! Maybe you know him? His name is Mike Goat!"

"How old exactly are you, Mr. Hedgehog?"

"What exactly happened to your leg though?"

Sonic watched them clutter over to his desk with wide grins as he stared at them blankly. He wanted them to go away. He knew this would of happened.

"What does it feel not being able to walk again?"

Useless.

"How does it make you feel?"

Worthless.

Sonic could feel his head begin to spin and their words mumble into nothing. He clenched his thighs. Why wouldn't they just shut up? Couldn't they see he wasn't comfortable answering these questions?

Sonic felt the panic begin like a cluster of spark plugs in his abdomen. Tension grew in his face and limbs, his mind replaying the gory of it all. His breathing became more rapid, more shallow. In these moments before his personal hurricane, he understood the drug addict, the alcoholic... anything to stop the primal surge to flee.

He saw the terror in the hedgehog's face. "Sir, they've been blown up."

"Mister Hedgehog," A soft voice interrupted, bringing him back to reality just in time before he exploded. "I don't understand this problem. Can you explain it to me?"

Sonic open his eyes to meet with familiar jade ones that watched him with a smile.

"Oh, sure. Excuse me." Sonic said slowly as his hands shakily moved to the side of his wheelchair and pushed over towards the pink hedgehog where her desk sat, away from the gossiping students.

"What part don't you understand?" He asked, wiping his sweaty hands against his pants with a nervous smile.

The pink hedgehog watched him intently for a moment as if she knew his inner turmoil. Could it be she had read him again? Had she called him purposely…?

She suddenly smiled, glancing at the quote she had been assigned and putting her hand on his shoulder and rubbed him as she leaned over from behind him."This part here. I don't understand this quote.

Sonic seemed to relax at her touch. It was comforting and he needed it since it calmed his nerves. Now he was sure of it. Somehow she knew. He wasn't sure how but she just did and that somehow reassured him.

"There she goes flirting again. What a slut." Someone scoffed, making Sonic ears flicker at the words. "She probably trying to get an easy A."

"Shut up! The teacher might hear you."

It was too late for that.

Sonic stiffen and swallowed, becoming more acknowledging of the pink hedgehog's pretense. He hadn't really realized it before since it had helped him calm down but they were right. This was not appropriate.

He let out a cough, making Amy turn to him and he was surprised to see she seemed almost oblivious to the other students words but he was sure she had heard. Even so, that smile of hers and the soft touch of her hands continued to be apparent. He snapped his eyes away, feeling unsure about what he felt under her stare.

"You may sit on your desk," he said with a nervous smile.

Her touch froze for a moment and then she slowly pulled away, sending a chill down his spine. "Sure," she said and he could of sworn he detected a sly tone but shook it off.

Amy walked around him and towards her desk with a sway of her hips and his eyes locked on her butt for a second as she twisted her body around to sit down before snapping his eyes away. He mentally cursed himself. His cheeks had become rather pink.

Stop staring so hard. He thought.

Sonic clenched his eyes shut for a moment and mentally slapped himself. He was a married man not some ragging hormonal teen. He had to stop this nonsense.

The pink hedgehog leaned forward on her hand, her back arching, exposing the skin of her lower back with that crop top of hers that even exposed some cleavage, and her pants seeming to tighten in the process, showing a heart shaped curve of her butt. She looked at him innocently. "I need your help with this thing that's bothering me." She said slowly.

Sonic watched her with narrowed for a moment and couldn't help but wonder how she wasn't making his nerves any better. Another part was now believing that maybe she knew exactly how she was making him feel. He shook the thought off and looked down at her quote.

"'Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.' By Helen Keller" he read.

The dark part of him felt like laughing at the irony.

He gave a sigh instead."I think it means exactly what it says," Sonic went in with a glum look on his face. "There comes a time when the adventure ends."

"Really?" Amy questioned, glancing up at him with a sparkle in her eyes."I think it's saying that there's always an adventure in every corner and it's up to the reader to decide if they're up to the challenge."

"Yeah, you're…" Sonic felt like she was directing that to him but he's couldn't argue. They did make some sense. His eyes softened, "Probably right." The girl hadn't needed help at all.

A bigger smile spread among her lips as they met eyes and something seemed to pass between them. He wasn't sure what it was but that previous warmth followed. He couldn't pinpoint what or why there was something to begin.

"It's already eleven, Mr. Hedgehog!" Someone yelled, making the cobalt hedgehog jump in surprise."Can we leave?"

Sonic cleared his throat and nervously turned away from the pink hedgehog and towards the other students."Yeah, if you didn't finish then that's fine. Do it at home. I will be collecting the assignments next class meeting."

Everyone nodded and seemed to almost make a run for it as soon as they were dismissed. Everyone except for a pink hedgehog who slowly took her time putting her materials away. Sonic glanced at her for a moment and swallowed.

He had a feeling that having her in his class was going to change his life one way or another. It was already the first day and he had already been starting with other students talking about them.

If he hadn't been so anxious then he could of avoided it. Plus he shouldn't have let her pat him to begin with. He was acting so different than he couldn't even recognize himself.

He couldn't have his emotions going crazy and bringing her down with him.

"About what the students said earlier, I hope my presence doesn't make you feel uncomfortable." Sonic said with a frown, glancing up at her, feeling almost guilty for it.

Amy blinked in what seemed like surprise but smiled softly."I can care less about what they say about me just like you shouldn't care about your legs."

Sonic twitched. She was actually calling him out in it.

"That doesn't bother me…"

"You can't lie to me, Mister Sonic." She said with a confident smirk as she looked him straight in the eye, stopping right in front of him. "I can sense fear."

Sonic was silent as he watched her gentle eyes.

Something told him she wasn't lying about that.

A small giggle escaped her as she swung her pack pack over her shoulder and made her easy to the door. "Also, remember what I said about the smiling."

Sonic bit back the fake smile he was about to give and watched her blankly, almost dazed as she stopped at the door and glanced back at him with those mesmerizing eyes of hers.

"It's an honor to have you as my teacher," she said happily. "I have to go now. I start work at noon around the block." She gave him a little wave as she flicked her quills away."See you around, Mister."

Sonic waved back but it almost seemed like he his soul had escaped his body as he stared off as if hypnotized. He reached to feel his heart. It was going crazy he knew it wasn't due to one of his panic attacks this time. This wasn't good.

Amy let out a groan as she stretched her arms up and she exited the English department building and walked down the steps with a big smile. It almost looked like it hurt. What were the odds she would see him? Let alone have him as an instructor?

Her eyes lowered, stopping at the stairs as she recalled his stares.

She wasn't stupid.

She noticed the way he was looking at her almost immediately especially when she would take advantage and ruffle him a bit more. His reactions were quite cute. She just couldn't help herself.

She giggled to herself but then froze.

She felt eyes on her and she knew exactly who they belonged to as her jades slowly drifted to the hooded figure leaning against the bottom of the stairs. Amy smirked. She could see those familiar cherry red eyes glaring up at her and she couldn't help but giggle as she waltzed down the steps absentmindedly, passing him. As expected, he followed right behind her as they headed out of the building together.

He scoffed. "What took you so long?"

"I was talking to my new instructor." Amy said innocently, hands behind her back as she glanced back at him.

"You better not even think about seducing him."

"Why would I?" She placed her index finger on her chin with a fake pout.

"I saw the way you were looking at him."

She tilted her heat at him. "How?" She wondered.

"I passed by while taking materials to another instructor earlier and noticed you were pretty busy." He muttered with a tight frown. "I knew if you would of seen me you'd probably do it even more."

"What's so bad about me staring though?" She shrugged."He is my teacher after all so basically pay to stare and listen to him."

He stepped besides her now, towering a good foot over her petite frame."It's not looking what bothers me but the way you do it." He insisted.

"How?"

"Like you want to fuck him." He said bluntly.

Amy slapped her hands against her cheeks with false shock. "Oh, no. Shouldn't it be the other way around?" She exclaimed, walking down some steps while he stopped.

The ebony hedgehog's lips twisted in disgust.

He hated how she always made everything more sexual. He wasn't sure if she would do it out of spite just to piss him or if she just couldn't help herself. It was probably both considering the defiant smile she always flashed him afterwards.

She lived to push him to the edge.

"Rose." he said deadpan. He stood on the top step, staring and assessing. Amy refused to fidget like a scolded child, so she met his stare with a smile.

He saw right through her and narrowed his eyes. He began walking down the steps, but she refused to give in to her inner coward. When he closed in on her with sure steps, Amy never faltered even if her common sense was telling her to run. The faster, the better.

"I'm only joking." Amy giggled, poking his nose and pulling his hoodie down to reveal his handsome scolding face as she rubbed noses."You don't need to worry, Shadow. He's not like the others. This guy is different."

His brows furrowed."What do you mean?"

"Ah, well would you look at the time!" Amy said with a shocked look on her face as she inspected her imaginary watch."I'm late!" She exasperated, turning to make a run for it."Thanks for walking me!" She giggled. "See you around, Shadow!"

"Wait, Rose, what do you mean by that?" Shadow growled, reaching out to her but let out a sigh in defeat.

He could of easily ran after her and caught her considering his super speed but there was really no point to that. Even if he had caught her, she would of still kept her mouth shut. That was just the way she was and he couldn't change that.

He missed how she used to be.

The shy, caring, little girl that never stopped reading her fairy tail books and going off how she was going to get married once she found her Prince Charming. She was so innocent then until….

He shut his eyes, trying to forget.

Now he ever knew what she was thinking but right now it most likely didn't matter.

Besides, her words just now probably meant nothing special.

He was probably overthinking it.

After all, what could a cripple even do?

I will try to make the characters personalities stay as similiar as I can to their original concept even if it doesnt seem like it so far :) some character build up is still required!