Chapter 8: Talking about Feelings

Morning brought with it Amy Rose heating cans of food over a makeshift fire. The smell of corned beef hash woke up the now rested residents of the underwater haven. Shadow and Rouge emerged from the same room and Sonic and Amy looked at them slightly strange, but they didn't really think that much about it. Amy lobbed spoonfuls of the good smelling beef with potatoes into bowls and the others eagerly took them. Rouge looked at Shadow with an obvious blush beaming across her cheeks. Shadow looked at her for a moment, but then went back to shoving spoonfuls of the delicious hash into his mouth. Amy was giving Sonic the look that always make him feel nervous, and he had to look in another direction.

When the food was finished Rouge spoke up "I might as well go get that Master Emerald!"

Sonic nonchalantly said "I'll go with you in case you get into trouble along the way! These Emeralds will come in handy."

Shadow, even with his injured arm said "No, I would rather go Sonic, especially since you wouldn't enjoy taking that little dip through the water again."

Sonic wondered why Rouge suddenly looked at Shadow so strangely, but then she just started walking off to the entrance of the layer, with Shadow following close behind.

As soon as they left, Sonic realized he was trapped in an underwater base with Amy. Throughout this entire deal, if Amy got a little too clingy, he could always run around for a while. Sonic turned around, and sure enough Amy was standing there with that look in her eye. But what she said didn't really surprise him, but still caught him off-guard.

"Sonic, how did you feel when I was gone?"

Sonic stood there for a minute, but then sat down at a nearby table. Sonic gestured he wanted Amy to sit down in the chair next to him. She gladly accepted the offer. She was taken aback when Sonic stared directly into her eyes.

"I looked for you of course! What else do you think I would do Amy?"

"Well, I figure that, but I asked how you felt, not what you did!"

"Well, um… I, I don't know, but why did you do what you did Amy?"

"Because of Tails, and Knuckles and everyone else! Before the Flame got Tails, he was making progress! Those Ring Bombs were doing some damage to the creature! Maybe if it was damaged enough, it would give up an Emerald! I was helping him by hitting rocks at it too with my hammer, but then it got him. Tails! I couldn't believe how you reacted! It had to be punished for what it did to Tails! You, Sonic, you did nothing. You were afraid." Amy walked off to another corner of the base. Sonic just sat there and put his head between his hands. What she had said was mostly true. But he was not afraid, just horribly guilty and discouraged.

--

Rouge while carrying Shadow thorough the air didn't know what to say, if anything for quite a while. He must have wanted to talk, but why didn't he say anything? The perfect question popped into her head.

"Shadow, how did you feel last night?"

"Nothing!"

"Don't lie to me Shadow! You have as many feelings as anyone else!"

"Damn it, I don't know! Okay?."