Chapter 5 – Other Side of the Story

Dessovelle closed her eyes in concentration. She began whispering words similar to her earlier spell, and blasts of air crashed against them. Sonic clenched his teeth, mentally reminding himself to use Chaos Control next time. Having to endure the dazzling light and the roaring winds yet again was almost too much to bear. He clamped his eyes shut, desperately trying to keep out the brightness.

.

Once the radiance shrank back behind Dessovelle, she lifted her head and nodded in approval. Sonic straightened, blinking rapidly; trying to get rid of the yellow spots invading his vision. He observed the area. It was clear that they were back in the present. But wait, why were they at…

"Amy's house? Why did we come here?" he asked.

She looked at him as if to say, 'like you don't know'. "Consider that for a moment, Sonic. Don't tell me you've forgotten your previous actions already?"

.

Sonic found himself staring at the floor. His ears flattened. "No, I haven't forgotten," he mumbled. "But I don't see why I have to-"

"Don't you think you should see things in Amy's point of view?" she interrupted.

He finally looked up again, took a deep breath and nodded. It was true, he wouldn't like what he would see but Dessovelle was right. He needed to understand how Amy felt. Well, here we go, he thought.

.

He stood in front of her living room window with Dessovelle. It was dim inside and he squinted. Amy was sitting on the couch, holding something. Her body seemed to be shivering, but as Sonic's eyes adapted to the warm glow of her table lamp, he realised she was crying. Glistening teardrops were dropping onto the object in her hand, which he slowly realised was a photo frame. Recognition hit him; he immediately knew that it was the picture that she kept in her room; of the two of them in Twinkle Park, smiling happily at the camera. She'd taken it when it was just them together, and the fireworks had started behind them; exploding in the sky in a fusion of colours.

.

Her delicate form shook with her sobs, as she hugged the photo against her. She looked…exhausted. Not from a lack of sleep, but from almost everything that life threw at her; the life involving Sonic. She began to murmur quietly, and Sonic pricked up his ears in an effort to hear her words.

"Why?" she cried softly. "Why does he do this to me?" She paused to control her sobs. Her voice became even quieter. "Why do I still love him?"

Sonic's eyes widened. She seriously loves me? He silenced his thoughts to listen again.

"I do. Even now, but… I-I don't want to. I just want it to stop. Please…please let it stop. I don't know how much more I can take." She dropped her attempts to hold back on the tears, and let herself fall limp on the sofa, closing her eyes. It was no barricade for the trails of wetness that continued to roll down her face.

.

Sonic pressed his hand against the glass. "Amy…" he whispered. He'd never felt so many emotions. He was mostly confused and saddened to see her in this way. He'd been so sure that she'd be annoyed for a while and then forget about it. After going to the past, he'd seen that what he did could hurt her but he was hoping that she was just more emotional three years ago. Of course, now he couldn't deny: this was not the case. He hated to think that he was the reason she was so upset. "I told her I was tired. I just said that I wasn't in the mood; I didn't want to upset her. Was it something else I said?"

.

He turned to Dessovelle questioningly. Her expression held quiet disapproval.

"Your excuse hasn't upset her, it's the fact that you said you didn't want to be with her. She loves being around you and spending time with you, and to think that you don't return those feelings is hard for her to cope with."

"But she always told everybody that I loved her!" he protested.

"But does that necessarily mean that she believed it herself?"

There was a brief moment of silence, before he responded.

"No…I guess not. But I…I-I mean this isn't the first time I haven't gone out with her! Why is she reacting like this today?"

.

Dessovelle sighed. She was certain that Sonic knew all these answers; he was just too stubborn to admit that he'd been wrong. "She always feels this way every time you refuse her, although you've never seen it. 'If you keep adding stones to the jug, it's only a matter of time before it overflows.' Have you ever heard that saying?"

He nodded.

"It gets harder for her each time you reject her. Just remember that, Sonic."

He remained silent as he reflected over what Dessovelle said. She gets this upset because of me? I never realised she felt like that. I can't believe I never saw it. When I look back on everything, there were so many times when I just blew her off for a stupid reason. And yet she still stuck by me. She still loved me. Guilt tugged at him, as he tried to collect himself.

.

He faced Dessovelle, his expression full of strong determination, but few who knew him would detect the regret in his lime-green eyes. "I understand now," he said quietly. "You came here to show me how I've made her feel in the past, and I know that it has to change."

Dessovelle gently shook her head. Sonic frowned, as she explained herself. "If you remember, I told you that you are in a terrible situation. We have one more place to visit before you can fully appreciate what this means," she said. She held out her arms and began to chant.

.

Sonic launched himself forwards to grab her arm. "Wait!" he cried. She stopped and looked at him in surprise, and he released his grip. "Wait," he repeated, his voice calmer. "You don't need to use your winds of time thing." He pulled out a large green jewel from his quills and handed it to her, whilst breathing a sigh of relief. Somehow the idea of being blown around and blinded for the third time didn't sound very appealing. "This is a Chaos Emerald. We can use it to travel through time and space. We call that Chaos Control," he explained.

.

She inspected the gem with interest. "Is it accurate?"

Sonic considered that. "Err…kind of. It's hard to control what time it takes you to!"

Dessovelle gave a small nod in understanding. "You want to use it?"

"Normally I only use when I have to, but –" he shrugged, grinning.

She gave it back to him. "Very well. My magic should manipulate the time fields and allow us to access the time zone that we need. Just activate it and we will arrive in the right place," she said confidently.

.

Sonic tightened his grasp on the emerald and closed his eyes, while Dessovelle did the same. "Chaos Control!" he shouted. A luminous glow engulfed them as it had before, but it wasn't as harsh. They landed in the correct location with a thump and in a matter of seconds, as he saw when he lifted his head. But his eyes widened in shock at the scene before him. He stumbled to his feet, staring.