Chapter 7

Sonic couldn't help but laugh. Amy barreled toward him with infectious amounts of enthusiasm as soon as she slipped off her horse calling excitedly, "Sonic!"

She had been so anxious to see him, to tell him that she had done it, that they were going to make someone's life everything they deserved it to be. Her perception of him had shifted ever so slightly after her trip to the dungeon, and it made seeing him all the more enticing.

Sonic wasn't quite sure what to do with himself as Amy rocketed toward him. She didn't appear to be slowing her run, and the grin on her face was delirious with excitement. He unconsciously braced himself, settling into a defensive stance, unsure whether to open his arms and prepare to catch her or to dodge - she seemed like she was gearing up to take a flying leap at him.

She charged into his arms, taking his hands, jostling him as she ran straight into his chest, both of them staggering as he buffered her from running into a tree.

"You'd be so proud of me," she caught her breath, grinning at him from under her usual pageboy cap. "I… was like you! I snuck!"

"Oh?" He smiled down at her. The energy of her moods was always so big, so boisterous, he couldn't help but be dazzled by it.

"I met Silver, and Blaze, too. Do you know her?"

Sonic considered for a moment, vaguely aware that Amy's hands were still pressed in his.

"I think I've heard of her," he said, "Silver mentioned it a few times, he said that he left the love of his life when he came to camp. He was biding his time, waiting for her and doing some good while he could. He proposed to her before I met him, but she rejected him. He was never once mad about it or upset, though. He said he would work every day to be worthy of her - he seemed to feel certain they would be together someday."

Suddenly, Amy's eyes were sparkling. She squeezed Sonic's hands gently.

"That's… beautiful." She looked down and finally released Sonic to discreetly wipe her watering eyes. "They seemed close - she was caring for him in the dungeons - but she didn't tell me that they were… almost engaged."

Sonic would usually roll his eyes, but Amy's voice was so sweet, she seemed genuinely touched. He chuckled lightly at her, and pulled at his bandana uncomfortably.

"Sweet? Bit of a waste, don't you think? I always told him to move on." He said with a shrug.

Amy looked up at him, her smile slipping from her face. "But he said, you told him to pursue finding her again?" she questioned.

"I told him to find love again, to move on," Sonic corrected. "I didn't believe he would find her again."

Amy blinked at him. "I… didn't realize you were that cynical."

Sonic fully scoffed this time, pulling off his leather doublet to prepare for the start of training and hanging it on a tree branch.

"Me? Cynical? No way!" He said, caught off guard by the word. "Ask any of my friends, they'd tell you I'm the most optimistic guy they know!"

"More like most annoying," Amy huffed.

Sonic turned back to her. "That kind of cheek will earn you 50 push-ups, my lady. Hit the deck!" Sonic laughed as Amy shot him a glare and lowered herself to the ground to start on her punishment.

Amy felt disappointed at Sonic. She had spent all day thinking of him fondly. She had been so happy to hear that he had depth, could believe in romance. But here he was, showing her that Silver had been right about one thing - Sonic was afraid. Amy thought she was starting to get an idea about what it was that scared him, too.

"Always moving on quickly doesn't mean you're optimistic, you know," Amy grunted, "maybe it just means that you don't trust people enough to invest in them."

Sonic bristled, not ready to start fighting with her so quickly.

"Blaze had her chance, and she chose to leave Silver behind - if that isn't a sign that someone doesn't love you, I don't know what is." He leant against a tree, watching her warily as she moved.

"Blaze said no because she knew she wasn't ready then," Amy countered passionately. "It didn't mean she would never be. Her father had just told her she would never inherit the family smithing shop. She needed to go find herself, find a new purpose. In her own way, she was becoming worthy of him, too. And besides," She was grunting, losing her breath from speaking so fast and full of conviction, "a good partner knows that their significant other should be a complete person, free to ask for what they need and be supported while they pursue it."

"She's a blacksmith?" Sonic asked, skipping over any more talk of relationships as casually as he could.

"A pyrotechnic, too." Amy said, pausing her exercise to look at him.

"You know," she continued, catching his eye, "Maybe you don't trust people because you think they're always coming and going - that they leave. But really, maybe it's you that leaves them every time. Because you're afraid." Silver's voice rang in her head. She wanted to know what Sonic was afraid of, wanted to see if she struck a chord.

"Alright, alright," Sonic waved his hand, feeling the itch of irritation rising in him as he looked away. He took a breath. "Save your psycho-analysis for some other time - what about Silver?" Sonic prompted.

"Oh," Amy's breathing was getting heavier as she resumed her push-ups. Beads of sweat began to form under her cap as she dug her hands into the earth and contracted her shoulder muscles, pushing herself up and down, up and down. "He's in good hands. The best time to bust him out will be the night before his execution - at the end of next week. He'll be in a holding chamber on the first floor, but - " she paused and caught her breath, straining and grunting. She could imagine Sonic's smirk at her as she struggled. "He's in these special shackles for some reason. There's only one key copy, and they're in the warden's office."

"Silver is telekinetic. Once we get him free of those chains, he'll be able to help us with the rest of the escape - it'll be a much easier operation from then." Sonic said as Amy grunted from the ground. "What's the guard situation like?" He questioned further. "And how possible is it for you to get the keys from the warden without being suspicious?"

"Easy," Amy huffed without thinking.

Sonic's ears twitched.

Amy wasn't a trained thief. She didn't know when to withhold information, when to say more or less than the truth to keep it trapped, like smoke, in a glass. Lift the lid even a little, and some will escape. She kept doing that without knowing - lifting the lid and letting bits of smoke escape in puffs.

"Easy?" Sonic asked, "To get into the warden's chamber, get a key, and leave without appearing suspicious? Without appearing treasonous?"

Amy said nothing, just continued sweating and breathing, trying to come up with an excuse.

"Is he your suitor or something? Your husband?" Sonic asked, trying to keep his voice disinterested.

Amy's elbows buckled in shock. She collapsed on the ground and looked up at him, breathing heavily, and began to laugh.

"Oh, no. I am not spoken for -" Yet, she added in her head. "I was merely saying…" She trailed off, not sure how to cover this up. She stood up and prolonged her answer by dusting herself off. She took her cap from her head and wiped her brow, her pink quills tumbling down from where they had been tucked.

"How old are you?" Sonic asked, rolling his sleeves up. He hoped he appeared more casual about her answer then he felt, but he heard genuine curiosity seeping through in his tone.

"Why do you want to know? Want to lecture me about how I should be married already, too?" She spit the words out with some vehemence.

Another puff of smoke, another sparkle of truth. Sonic had pushed a button.

"Not at all… it's just that you're…" He didn't want to say 'old' because he didn't think she was, but her marital status did betray another oddity of her life. He changed tactics. "Is your mom on your case or something?" Sonic asked, quirking an eyebrow at her.

"... No." Amy said quietly, but did not offer anything else up. She didn't feel like talking about her dead mother tonight. She had been so happy coming here, she wanted to hold onto it. "About the keys… I just meant that… I'm not a nobody in the castle. I'm of high enough standing that I could… blame it on the princess, and no one would ask questions." She was getting uncomfortable. She felt the whole truth creeping up in her throat, only an inch away from spilling out and it scared her. They were getting too close.

"That big, huh?" Sonic whistled. His heart raced a bit - this connection was bigger than he had initially thought. Someone so close to the princess… he always had been a lucky bastard.

Amy said nothing. She would let him come to his own conclusions, hoping they would be the wrong ones. She knew well that the mind always thinks of everything else before landing on a difficult truth, hoping it's not reality.

"As for the guards," Amy changed the subject, "there will be a lot of them. Mostly outside the castle, and blocking the exit and the door to the chamber. It might be too many for -"

"Leave the guards to my friends and I, and I'll leave the key to you." Sonic said, gazing at her thoughtfully. She always gave him so much to think about.

"You can't tell - "

"Don't worry," Sonic held up a hand, "I won't tell them any more about you then they need to know. A little faith, Ames?" Sonic teased.

Her eyes widened. "Oh - I brought something for today, too, I almost forgot!" She turned and jogged back to her horse.

Sonic took a deep breath as she left. He wondered how he could already be reeling from being with her for not even a half hour. He was excited, annoyed, proud, happy… He tried to sigh it all out before she could get back and he felt even more complicated thoughts and feelings.

Amy came back carrying a bulky chest plate and arm guards. The top part of a set of armor.

Sonic looked at her quizzically, his eyebrow raised. "How'd you get that? You sure you aren't a thief?"

Amy chuckled, "My first trainer got them for me. He…" she hesitated.

"Is a knight?" Sonic guessed.

Amy nodded, not looking at him. Sonic wanted to ask her more about her knight - and about her marriage prospects.

He wondered if she and her knight were close. He wondered why the man was risking his life for her wild dream to win the tournament. Her blush at the mention of the knight had Sonic feeling some type of way - it was like anger and confusion mixed into something else. And he felt it directly at whoever that stupid knight was.

"Strap me in?" Amy asked. His eyes snapped up, he hadn't realized he had been so lost in thought. Amy was in her armor. It was so bulky on her, and it fell stiffly on her body in weird places. Sonic began to laugh. In it, she looked like a child, swallowed up in something that just... didn't seem right on her.

"You look absolutely ridiculous!" Sonic wheezed. Amy's ears went pink.

"Oh, shut up and strap me in." She grumbled. "It's not my fault that they only make these things for men."

Sonic wiped a tear as he stepped toward her. She turned around and he began to adjust the straps on her armor so it sat on her only a little less awkwardly. As he pulled on the leather, Sonic realized that Amy probably did this every day. She most certainly wore corsets and dresses in the palace at least, he had no doubt about that. Looking at her in her trousers and the armor, though, he just couldn't picture it.

"Your knight," Sonic said with a sneer that was half for comedic effect and half sincere, "tell him he's done a shit job training you. What're they teaching the members of the guard these days?" He meant it as a joke, but he also wished that guy was there to hear him say it, too.

"I almost hit you with my hammer when we first met, didn't I?" Amy said back, feeling a little protective of Shadow.

"Well, if you had kept training like a knight for three months until the tournament, there's no way you would have won." Sonic said simply. It was true, he knew she wasn't a winner yet.

Amy turned to him, his hands coming off her abruptly as she spun. "And why not?" She demanded.

"Because," Sonic reasoned, "Everyone in the tournament will be a knight. They'll all be fighting like knights." Sonic moved his hands back over the armor and tugged on her shoulder straps. This armor would be impossible for her to win in, he knew it, but he adjusted it for her as best he could all the same. "Only you will be fighting like a thief."

Amy nodded. She thought about the letter she had written only that morning, how she had felt she was moving forward without Shadow.

"Everything about you will be unexpected to them," Sonic said, his hands still fiddling with her straps. He glanced at her, and found she was staring intently up at him. He meant only to see if she were listening, but got stuck staring into her bright eyes.

He inhaled sharply under the scrutiny of her gaze, his hands falling still, and said, "You will sneak in there, like a thief, and steal the win out from under their stupid, rich noses."

He finished with her straps and, without thinking, he tucked a stray quill behind her ear softly. The motion was totally unconscious. He was simply helping to get her ready and saw that her quills were hanging in her face.

He withdrew his hand quickly and tried to keep his face stony, like he hadn't just enjoyed the feeling of tracing his fingers behind her ear and down her neck lightly. He swallowed thickly, not sure what she would do, but he thought it might have something to do with a hammer to the face.

Instead, Amy smiled at him. He smiled back, he couldn't help it. More than what he had just done, which Amy was trying to push into the back of her mind before she could blush, she was thinking of his words. His support.

Despite all his bravado, his slippery way with words, and his cynicism, there was a romantic somewhere in Sonic. Amy was pleased to know that all her newfound goodwill toward him hadn't been totally unfounded.

In the beat of silence, she tried to find the right words to thank him. She wanted to tell him how she was so grateful for everything he was doing. She wanted to put words to what she was beginning to suspect: she opened her mouth to tell him that she thought she would never win without him, without what he was doing for her, but he cut her off. It was like he had a radar for sensing when things were about to get too serious for his liking.

" - But it'll never happen if I don't see a little effort, so c'mon Ames, let's see some sweat!"

With that their closeness was broken, and Sonic jogged away from her like nothing had ever happened.

Sonic ran her through their drills. On this night, their fourth night, Amy felt that maneuvers came easier to her. Her body acted on instinct. With the movements engrained in her muscles, her mind was free to focus on the battle. To think strategy and grapple with the obstacle of her stupid, clunky armor.

They laughed as they trained, trading blows and talking through stances with familiarity. To Sonic, the banter between them was comforting now. It scared him, feeling so settled into something with one person, but she kept him on his toes with her questions, her moods, and - of course - her hammer. He could almost forget the heat in his body from the day before, his dreams, and the thing that he dreaded every night buzzing in the back of his head: when, at the end of every lesson, Amy stopped him before he could run of so she could have her -

" - bath?" She asked, stopping him at the end of their lesson. She pulled the chestplate over her head, revealing her sweaty blouse clinging to her body underneath, dumping the armor noisily on the ground. Sonic sighed and scratched his head, turning on his heel to face her, his other hand deep in his pocket.

"Riiiiight," he said, his eyes running over her quickly, "sorry, I forgot."

She stared at him blankly, and he stared back. She cleared her throat and glanced at the pond.

"Oh!" Sonic jumped, "Right, right!" He turned back around promptly, eyes on the forest, scanning the shadows for anything malicious. His fur stood on end as he heard the sounds and fought to ignore the accompanying mental images.

The water splashed. She sighed.

"What is camp like?" She said. It wasn't a question this time, it was a demand.

"It's a five star stay!" Sonic joked, rubbing his arms to try and calm the goosebumps running along his skin. He hadn't realized how cold the nights were getting. His sweat from their training turned chilly and he shivered.

"If it's so bad, why did you join?"

"By comparison, bad things can sometimes look good. Or at least look like the best option." Sonic said, and stopped himself from turning around to talk to her. He wanted to see the look in her eyes, hoping they would betray a hint of what she was playing at.

"Silver said he met you over 5 years ago. So you were there at the camp - a thief - since you were, what? 25?"

Sonic scoffed. "You think I'm 30? Gee, thanks."

"Well, it's hard to know - since you behave like a 15 year-old." Sonic flinched as he heard a splash and something cold and wet splattered against his back. It was just a spray, but still, she had splashed him. He chuckled.

"You're lucky I'm a gentleman and won't turn around, otherwise you'd be in so much trouble."

Amy ignored him, scrubbing out her quills. "Ok, so younger than 30. You had to have been around when Scourge took over, when everyone got busted. How long did you live there before that happened?"

"I didn't realize this was an interrogation." Sonic said, shaking himself off gently.

"I just… want to know you."

Sonic froze. She said it so simply, so genuinely that Sonic thought for a moment maybe it could be that simple. Maybe he could just tell her, and it wouldn't make his whole body ache to talk about the losses he suffered. He wouldn't die a little inside when she, too, left him after he poured so much into her. His hand slipped into the pocket of his doublet absent-mindedly.

"Sonic?" Amy prompted.

He jumped. Her voice came from right behind him. How she had snuck up on him, he didn't know. He whirled on her, looking down at her flushed cheeks and dripping quills.

"Sorry, I - You're shaking." He cut himself off when he realized it. She was trembling, from the cold he thought.

"It's nothing," she said. Her clothes clung to her.

Sonic took the sight of her shaking form in and sighed, trying to ignore the outline of her body. "You're lucky I'm a gentleman," he said again, shrugging off his leather doublet for the second time that night.

"Oh, I don't - " She began to protest, but Sonic simply wrapped his jacket around her, pulling the front tight around her shivering form. As he pulled the front of the doublet closed around her, he accidentally drew her a bit closer to him. Thrown off balance by him, she took a step forward to steady herself.

They were close again. He held onto the front of the jacket even after it was securely on her, keeping her trapped within arm's reach. He didn't know why he didn't let her go, but he wanted to stare into her eyes, study her face, just a bit longer.

"You know," Amy said, her words coming out in a soft breath, "I thought that you were helping Silver escape because you believed he and Blaze deserved to be together. Because you believed in… love." She felt silly admitting it.

Sonic shook his head. "It's more than that," he said, "Silver is my friend, and he deserves freedom - a full life. If that's with Blaze, so be it. But no one needs a reason to get the chance at a life full of happiness."

Amy studied him, searching his face. Warmth spread from the center of her chest as he spoke, despite the cold that was soaking through to her bones from her dip in the pond. She reached up, breaking his hold on the jacket, and touched his cheek. Sonic stifled the instinct to jolt away from her, but couldn't stop the quiet gasp that flew from his lips against his will.

"Your eye looks better." She thumbed the cut on his cheek, already healing and hidden by his tan fur.

"Uhm…" Sonic stammered, he wasn't sure what to do. Thankfully for him, Amy pulled away.

"I'll bring this back to you tomorrow night," she promised.

"You better," Sonic swallowed, trying to regain his sense of cool. He wanted desperately to think of one final joke, something stupid to leave the conversation with, but his brain was fritzing.

Somehow, Amy had left him speechless.

"Goodnight, Sonic." Amy said. She pulled his jacket onto her arms as she walked away and mounted up. Sonic watched her go as long as he could, as he always did - to make sure he was safe. And then he did the only thing he knew he could always count on to bring him comfort.

He turned and ran.

Amy was so tired when she finally got back to the castle, returned her horse to the stable, and snuck into her room, that she collapsed into bed still wearing Sonic's doublet. It was the most comfortable thing she had ever felt, well worn-in but still sturdy. The jacket swallowed her in a sea of leather and fur lining.

She curled into it as she got comfortable in her bed, submitting to the tug in her stomach that wanted to breathe in the smell of the jacket deeply, to let herself feel safe in something that was… his. It smelled of cut grass and campfire smoke.

Him, she thought. She pulled it tight around her, fingering the lining, the buttons, the patches and repair work.

Her fingers slipped into the right pocket, and her heart leapt when she felt something in there. She pulled it out, examining it in the scant moonlight.

It was a gold band, a simple ring. She squinted at it, turning it over in her fingers and her heart began to race. There was an inscription on the inside, barely visible in the darkness.

An eternal love, it read. And there was a date.

Amy clutched the gold ring to her heart, breathing deeply to try and calm herself. Was Sonic married? Did he have a lover he was planning on proposing too? Fear came to her in the form of stinging tears behind her eyes, which shocked her.

She held the ring up in the air between her thumb and forefinger, and squinted at the date again. She did some mental calculations.

No, she sighed out her anxiety. The date was from long ago, before Sonic was even alive.

She realized she must be holding an heirloom, something charged with emotional value. She rolled it in her palm again, wanting to treat it with the utmost respect. She pulled herself out of bed, still wearing the doublet, and found an extra chain in her vanity. She looped the chain through the ring and pulled it loosely around her neck, promising herself to return it tomorrow. She committed the date to memory, repeating it over and over in her mind as she fell asleep, still wrapped in Sonic's jacket.

At the camp, Knuckles greeted Sonic with raised eyebrows as he emerged silently in their tent, Tails was asleep, and didn't wake up. His soft snores underscored a familiar chorus of sounds - cicadas in the trees, the crackling of dying firelight, the wind in the trees making the leaves crinkle.

"You… leave something behind tonight?" Knuckles said, sitting up on his elbows. His thin blanket fell off his bare chest, and the large echidna shivered.

Sonic ignored him, laying on his back without bothering to undress. He put his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling of the tent. He could see the stars through a tear in the canvas. His hand moved to where his pocket would have been, and he suddenly remembered that he had given away his jacket that night. Given away his most prized possession.

"I'm going to need you, man." Sonic whispered.

"Come again?" Came Knuckle's gravelly voice.

Sonic turned his head to look at him. "We can get Silver, but I'm going to need your help."

Knuckles shook his head, his chest puffed out from leaning back on his elbows.

"You get yourself in trouble, you get yourself out of trouble." He said.

"What can I do to convince you to join this effort - to care about something?" Sonic said, his voice tinged with frustration.

"Just get the double portion we owe Scourge, and then I'll think about it. Scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours."

Sonic sighed and turned over, muttering about how that was gross and he wanted nothing to do with Knuckles' back, but at least it was something. He thought uncomfortably about what could be done - he could talk to Amy about it. Surely, she would be willing to help him out?

Behind him, he heard Knuckles settle back down to sleep. Sonic shut his eyes tightly. No, she was already risking her job - whatever it was - by helping him. If things started going missing from the castle and someone noticed, she might not even live long enough to make it to the tournament of champions.

He fell asleep fitfully, and dreamt of a future like fog in front of him, obscuring his vision of what he was walking towards.

He tossed and turned. In his dream he walked towards a figure through the fog, but he didn't feel like he was getting any closer. He couldn't make any details out, but he had the distinct impression that it was a woman. The next morning he would tell himself this wasn't true - that he was being silly and making things up - but he thought she emitted a soft pink glow. In the dream, she had turned to him, but he couldn't see her face. He had been blinded by the glint of something as she moved - a gold ring that reflected the light into his eyes, sitting on her finger. A perfect fit.

A/N: Oooooh a gold ring? Things are heating up!