A/N: GAH! I'm too disorganized for this… I dunno how you guys who type like, fifty stories at a time manage this. I've already almost messed up chapters… almost uploaded this to something else :P

Anyways, enjoy the chapter!

Dedicated to Marianne

"Looks like the birds have stopped singing
The cold winds must have come and taken them
All you want is to sing along
And bring them back again
It's all detours, red lights and dead ends"

-"Meant to Fly" lyrics by Eva Avila

The plane was watching them as the tree swayed drunkenly from the little girl's blood. It could hear the pink hedgehog whisper, in a shaking voice, comforting words, as if it would take away the little girl's pain, stop the tree from drinking her life away. The little girl was whimpering with pain and fear as she grew paler and paler, and the little boy sobbed, even as the blue hedgehog stroked his hair, telling him that nothing was wrong, his sister would be fine.

But that was just a lie – a horrible one, at that, even the plane could tell.

Now the blue hedgehog was standing up, his face alight with determination. He was strolling quickly towards the girl, leaving the little boy to trail behind him, trying hard not to stumble with his new-found walking skills. He was talking to the pink hedgehog, who was shaking her head frantically, her small strip of dress now saturated with dark-red liquid. It heard the blue hedgehog raise his voice, just a little, the same sort of tone he used when he was leading the small, two-tailed fox, it's old pilot and master.

The pink hedgehog shook her head again, but the blue hedgehog was standing firmly in front of her, pointing – with some anger, the plane observed – at the strip of fabric that had done nothing to staunch the bleeding. The pink hedgehog started to shake, and she pressed the little girl's body closer to hers, staining her fur with blood.

The blue hedgehog shook his head. His voice was starting to shake with desperation as the girl's strikingly green eyes stared around wildly. She still refused to let go of the little girl.

Then, something interesting happened. The little boy, who seemed to have stopped sobbing, placed a small hand on the older girl's arm. Words were exchanged, or at least, the little boy said something to her. Her grip on the small girl relaxed, and she was taken by the older male.

For a second, the pink hedgehog opened her mouth in protest, but seemed to think better of it.

Quickly, the plane's new master raced towards it, placing the girl inside. The pink hedgehog, holding the green-furred boy's hand, hoisted themselves up along it's side and settled themselves in it's seat.

It felt it's master telling him to start, and with a rumble, it lifted off.

But this time, there was no squealing of joy from the little girl. She didn't dangle off it's side, just enough to keep herself from falling, as she pointed out all the tiny things she could see below. There were no sounds of 'ooh's' and 'ah's' as she pointed out the fantastic shapes of clouds that it flew though.

No, the plane couldn't hear anything but the putting of it's own engine, and a strange, deathly silence.

'Mommy, please give Naomi to Daddy.'

Where did Nathaniel learn these words? Where did he learn words like "Mommy" and "Daddy?" And even more amazingly yet, how did he know how to use them?

Amy had never taught him these words, and she was as sure as anything that Sonic had never insisted on being called, "Daddy." She couldn't even remember saying those words in front of Nathaniel, or even in front of Naomi…

Her heart squeezed painfully at the thought of her, and she was grateful that no one could see her tears as she drove the plane, though she was no where as good as Sonic was...

She gripped the steering wheel a little harder than necessary. Why had she lost her cool like that? It was like she had snapped when she saw Naomi's blood everywhere… she vaguely remembered wondering how a little child like her had so much blood to lose.

But besides trying to desperately stop the bleeding, she had done nothing. She had sat there, frozen by panic, her heart hammering too loudly in her ears to hear anything else, her vision stained red by the sight of the little green hedgehog…

Shivering from something that was defiantly not cold, she sunk a little lower into her seat. She was so ashamed of herself. She had been so useless, and it had taken both Sonic and Nathaniel to break her out of her stupor.

She could remember Sonic taking Naomi out of her arms. And he had paused, for just a second, when she opened her mouth to protest. 'I can take care of her myself, Sonic,' she had wanted to say. 'I can help her. I can save her.'

Was she so afraid of trusting Sonic with Naomi? After all, Sonic had taken care of countless battle wounds before, especially when he went on missions against Eggman. Naomi's was no different – it was probably a small scratch compared to what he had sustained.

'But it was a small scratch,' she thought to herself. 'Why had there been so much blood?'

Sure Naomi had always seemed weak compared to Nathaniel. But was she really the fragile glass doll that Amy had sometimes thought her to be?

She sniffed a little, and suddenly raised a hand to touch her face. Without realizing it, it was now wet with tears. The blood on her fur had hardened and was stretching uncomfortably across her front. She probably looked like a mess.

She sighed, and tears forced their way up again. Maybe some part of her… some small, tiny part of her… really did think that she was super mom. Maybe she had forgotten that Sonic was also there for her – for the twins – when they needed him most.

Maybe she had forgotten that he loved them as much as she did.

'Sonic, you're a better father than you think you are,' she thought bitterly. 'And I'm a worse mother than you think I am.'

Sonic's eyes were itching with tiredness. The bleeding had finally, finally, stopped. Nathaniel whimpered beside him, but whenever he tried to comfort the boy, he would pull away. Sonic ignored the little stab of hurt that pricked at his insides when he did this – after all, he needed to watch over Naomi until she got better.

A small bowl of hot water nearly tipped when the plane took a sharp turn. 'Amy was never much of a pilot,' Sonic mused as he sat the water back and started toweling the blood off Naomi. He couldn't help but be a bit queasy as he did so. Not that he was queasy at the sight of blood, no; it was more of the sight of blood on Naomi that did so.

The little girl would moan a little every now and then, shaking her head a little and trying to weakly throw off her blankets. But before Sonic could put them back on, Nathaniel would be right there, standing on a little stool to reach the side of the bed, gently put the blankets back on. Sonic would be amazed every time the boy did so; amazed that he seemed to know exactly what Naomi needed.

Nathaniel was just putting them back on again, when he said, "Naomi's hurting."

Sonic was quiet for a moment. "I know, Nathan… we can't do anything but wait until she wakes up," he said softly. He found his eyes drawn to Naomi's closed ones, waiting for them to open…

"When?"

Sonic turned to Nathaniel. He wasn't looking at him, but at Naomi's eyelids, just as he had been a moment ago. He asked again, "When is Naomi going to wake?"

Sonic was taken aback by how Nathaniel had asked him so calmly, as if he was sure that Naomi would defiantly wake up. 'Which she will,' thought Sonic, immediately ashamed at himself for his doubts.

"I don't know…" he whispered. "Just wait, Nathaniel."

The small, green hedgehog looked down solemnly at Naomi, and for a moment, it was as if they were talking to each other, even though their mouths weren't moving…

Naomi groaned again, before her eyelids fluttered open.

"Sis!" Nathaniel cried out with joy, and it took all of Sonic's strength to stop him from pouncing on her, even though he was on the verge of doing so himself. "You 'kay?"

His sudden change from being an adult to child surprised Sonic, even as Nathaniel ran over to Naomi. Naomi smiled back weakly, before coughing a little. "I'm 'kay…" she said weakly.

Sonic smiled gently at her. "Don't move, okay Naomi? When you get better, you can play with your brother."

Naomi nodded at him, and she smiled a little. "Thanks, Daddy, for taking care of me."

Sonic's breath caught in his throat. 'Daddy…' He never thought that he'd be called that, not in his lifetime. He nodded back. "No problem, Naomi…" And, feeling a little awkward, he turned to Nathaniel. "Guard your sister, and tell us if there's any problem with her, okay?"

Nathaniel nodded, in that adult-like seriousness that didn't seem to fit the child.

Sonic sighed, before turning around and opening the door, exiting the small, extra room in the plane. Naomi wasn't the only one who needed healing…

The metallic clank of footsteps on the floor announced his presence, making Amy jump. She hastily wiped her tears away and looked straight-ahead, hoping her expression was that of indifference.

Sonic sat down beside her, the springs creaking under his weight. Amy resisted the urge to jerk the plane in some random direction out of pure shame as she felt the heat of his eyes turn towards her.

"Is she going to be alright?" Amy asked, before Sonic could open his mouth. She didn't think she could bear saying Naomi's name at the moment.

"Yeah… she's a little dizzy at the moment, but she'll be fine," replied Sonic. He felt extremely nervous for some reason. Maybe it was because Amy kept on shifting in her seat, as if she couldn't wait to get away…

"Oh," whispered Amy. "That's… good… yeah…"

Sonic couldn't help staring at her for a few moments. There were dry tears on her usual round, cheerful face. And he couldn't help thinking that she didn't sound entirely sincere or truthful when she talked, nor did she sound entirely happy. He also couldn't help noticing how she still carried herself with an air of grace, how the slight wind made her hair sway and dip… He looked away, his face burning.

"Naomi almost died, didn't she?"

"W-what?" he asked, still trying to force the heat off his face.

"Naomi almost died… and she would've, if it wasn't for you…"

Amy's voice shook. Her throat felt sore and raw from holding back all her tears, and she couldn't get rid of the sudden picture that sprang into her mind – of her holding onto a bleeding Naomi, of the little girl screaming, pleading for her to let go, how Amy couldn't unfold her arms no matter how hard she tried… 'Mommy! Mommy, you're hurting me…'

Sonic wasn't sure what to say. "She… she wasn't about to die, exactly…" His voice trailed off, and the blood rushed to his ears.

"What do you mean by that?" Amy asked sharply. Her shoulders were shaking, though she didn't know if it was from the effort of not crying, or from her sudden flame of anger. "Naomi… she… she…" A ribbon of tears cascaded down her cheek, and she couldn't wipe it away without Sonic noticing. She tried to turn away.

To her surprise, she was stopped. Sonic was looking at her, his eyes soft. Her heart suddenly jumped from her chest to her ears, where they pounded so loudly that she was surprised that Sonic couldn't hear them.

"C'mon Ames…" he said quietly. His gloved hand rested on her cheek, where the tears started soaking into his glove. "I hate seeing you like this…"

Amy forcefully pulled away. Her cheeks were smoldering with shame. "Are you asking me to be happy with myself after what happened today?" she asked furiously. "I… I don't know what's wrong with me. I mean…" Anger left her almost lost for words. "Naomi was dying in my arms, and I just sat there staring at her…"

The plane jerked again as her fingers slipped from the wheel. Sonic hastily press the auto-pilot button, but Amy still didn't let go of the wheel.

"Amy," he said, "Please don't blame yourself for what happened today."

Amy stared at him in shock. Then, she laughed a cold, cruel laugh that made even her flinch. "Don't blame myself? Sonic, that's what I've been trying to tell you for months!"

"Amy… I… that's not the same…"

She ignored that. "You're such a hypocrite. Everyday, every single day, when I've been taking care of Nathaniel and Naomi, I've been trying to tell you not to blame yourself for the situation we're in!" She finally let go of the steering wheel and jabbed it hard in his chest with her finger.

"Ow! Amy…"

"None of us," she said, making sure that every word was pronounced with the utmost care, "blame you for us being on the run. Not Nathaniel, not Naomi, and certainly not me!" she said, jabbing him with every syllable that left her mouth.

Sonic grabbed her by the wrist, and she struggled for a moment. "Okay, fine!" shouted Sonic. "I'm a hypocrite! I'm an idiot for blaming myself all the time, okay? I was stupid!"

Amy stopped and stared at him, her mouth a round "O" of shock. 'Sonic the Hedgehog admitting that he's wrong? That's a first…'

"It's just that…" he paused, his grip on her wrist slackening slightly. "It's hard, okay? I was the one that suggested that we run away in the first place, and after seeing you suffer like that, I was sorry I put the idea into your head."

Amy couldn't say anything but a quiet "Oh" of surprise and shock.

He finally let go of her wrist, but he was still staring into her eyes. "Amy, we both know it's not easy being the hero, especially when you have to make choices like this. Sometimes, you even doubt if you're fit to be a hero, especially after you fail someone."

Amy bit her lip. "Yeah… you're right Sonic…" she said, a bit reluctantly.

Sonic relaxed now that Amy didn't look like she was going to explode any second. "It's just that… wow, this has been a crazy year…" Sonic looked outside. Trees were starting to change colours, bright scarlets and golds that leaped high into the sky, the leaves falling as the trees got ready for the winter snow.

Amy allowed herself a small smile. "You can say that again."

His brain stopped for a moment, as it always did when Amy smiled like that. But somehow, he couldn't remember when her smile had ever been more beautiful.

Amy sighed, the smile gone, but a small light of happiness starting to glow in her eyes. "I guess we've been unfair to each other, huh?" It sounded more like a statement, not a question.

Sonic smirked, just a little. "You're right… we've both been a little in over out heads."

Sighing again, Amy sat down in her chair. She hadn't noticed that she had gotten up, or how tired she suddenly was. She looked up at the ceiling. "What do you think they're doing right now?"

Sonic didn't need to ask to know who "they" were.

"Probably looking for us." He didn't sit down. "Especially Shadow…"

"Yeah… probably him the most." It was strange that the two of them were speaking his name so casually, thought Amy. Sonic didn't seem to mind it.

"Amy," Sonic suddenly said, sounding a bit nervous. "Do you…?"

"I love Shadow," said Amy promptly. She couldn't help smiling when Sonic visibly deflated. "… As a brother," she added.

Sonic suddenly perked up, and Amy laughed out loud. He looked at her, a little annoyed. "What are you laughing about?"

Amy just shook her head. 'Same, clueless Sonic,' she thought, trying to stifle her laughter.

Sonic hid his disappointment when she stopped laughing. He liked her laugh, he noticed, sending another wave of blushes along his muzzle.

"So," he said, desperate to change the subject. "How do you think everyone else is doing?"

There was a moment of thoughtful silence. "I expect Knuckles and Rouge to have gotten together by now, at least…"

"Nah," said Sonic, laughing. "They're both way too stubborn for that."

Amy grinned. "Oh, come on, Sonic. Give them a chance. I mean, if the two of them can pull their eyes away from the Master Emerald for at least a second, and if they stopped arguing… then maybe…"

"Yeah, right," said Sonic, rolling his eyes towards the sky. "That'd be the day that Tails stopped building things… mind you, that's probably what he's doing right now…"

Amy heard his voice trail of wistfully. He was probably thinking of the time they could be spending together right now. Jealously flooded through her for a moment, but disappeared quickly. After all, how many times had she done the exact same thing, but with Cream?

'She'd be all grown up by now,' she thought longingly. 'I wonder if she's still leaving roses at the doorstep all the time…?' She had the sudden absurd thought of walking to her doorstep to find Cream smiling at her with a basket of roses in her hand. Her mouth twitched into a dry smile. 'I wonder if Cheese is still small enough to sneak into the movies…?'

Sonic was thinking along the same lines. 'Tails is probably building another plane since we stole this one.' He felt a twinge of guilt. 'I wonder how high he can fly now? Is he still afraid of lightening? Has he built the world's fastest plane, like the way he always told me he would?'

Amy broke the silence. "I bet Cream and Tails are happy now."

Sonic blinked. "You mean, together?"

Amy threw up her hands in exasperation, glad for a distraction from her thoughts. "Do you pay attention to anything?"

Sonic bristled up with annoyance. "I happened to not like poking into other people's business."

Amy looked at him with mock anger. "Oh yes, Shadow would be so happy to finally hear that."

"Well, if Cream likes Tails, why doesn't she just say so?"

"Oh, that'd be a conversation. 'Hello, Tails. I love you. Let's live together now.'"

"C'mon, if she likes him so much-"

"You don't just randomly go up to people and say that you love them…"

"Why's that?"

"Don't you know anything about love?"

"Yes, I do," Sonic said, his voice suddenly furious.

Amy's mouth dropped opened again. His words seemed to reach very slowly from her ears to her mind, and they came to her about five seconds after he said them.

She opened her mouth, but before she could say, "Yeah, how so?" He had grabbed her around the waist and was pressing her lips fiercely against his, making her heart beat faster than Sonic could ever run.

And the plane started rumbling, it's mind buzzing with the events it had witnessed that day.

A/N: (Squeals) I'm pretty happy with this chapter, actually :P I hope you guys don't mind the bit in the beginning, but I wanted to do something different. I'm actually finding that I like giving life to inanimate objects :D Don't worry, to anyone who didn't like it, I won't be doing it too much. And no, the plane isn't really alive… this is probably only going to be a one-chapter gig.

Hope you guys liked it! And I should also mention that I'm leaving again sometime this month to go to either Las Vegas or Vancouver… So I'll try to spit out as many chapters as possible before I leave (which won't be a lot, trust me xP).

Thanks for reading!

Anonymous Reviews (finally!):

SkyeTheFlyer: Actually, Naomi did have Hemophilia in the original version of the last chapter. The idea might or might not be scratched out though, we have yet to discuss it. As for the Sonic RPG thing, I'm not sure what it is exactly myself, except that it's well… Sonic the Hedgehog in RPG form… Sorry, I don't have much info on it myself xP. Thanks for reading!

Marianne: I missed it? I read through it again and it looks alright. I dunno, I didn't take it out myself or anything, but it might have missed it when I uploaded… I still don't know why fanfiction dot net misses some words when I upload :P. But besides that, how did you know I missed it? I didn't even catch it myself… Anyways, you sure sound a heck of a lot better, and I hope you really are! Thanks for finding the time to review :D

The Queen of Aces

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