A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR! WOOT! Hope you guys had lots of fun... partying... getting drunk... hanging with your friends... reviewing stories... and looking forward to a new year!

Anyway, this is sorta like... a New Year's present to you all. At least think of it that way XD

And yes, if you haven't already noticed, I am on a sudden Harry Potter quote-stealing spree XD Don't ask.

Dedicated to Marianne

"Tell me one last thing," said Harry. "Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?"

-From: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Mommy was so restless all the time now.

She could never sleep well, and whenever she woke up, her eyes had giant, black circles around them. Sort of like the panda bears in his picture books.

He doodled with his crayon stub for a little while again, before looking back up at Mommy. She was sleeping in late again. He wondered why – she'd never done that before, and he was getting a little hungry.

He caught his sister's eye, who gave him a stern glare. He got the message – 'Let Mommy sleep.'

His stomach let out an audible growl, and he tried his best to ignore it. He and his sister had promised – no, pinky promised – that they were going to try their best to keep Mommy happy, even if it meant that he would have to stop himself from slipping up and calling her "Mommy" to her face.

It was the only reason why he would listen to his twin's schemes. She knew more about all this girly feeling stuff than he did.

He hadn't been so sure about listening to her at first. He was sure that he had known more – he was a boy, after all – but after finding Mommy smiling just a tiny bit more after they had given her that notebook, he decided that maybe Naomi knew a little bit more than he did.

Of course, Mommy never took the book out again.

'Girls are weird…'

He silently reached for a marker, watching his sister drawing a neat little house with a gel pen from the corner of his eye. He smirked. At least he didn't use girly gel pens.

He glanced down at his paper, proceeding to colour in the… thing that he'd drawn. He wasn't quite sure what it was though. It looked sort of like a big jewel – not as sparkly as a normal one would be – maybe he should borrow a gel pen…

He was about to quietly ask for one, when a fleeting shape by the window caught his curious eyes…

She had pulled away from the window just in time.

She was sure, every second that she was there, that he would look up, or that maybe the girl would, but neither of them did. She was glad that Amy was asleep though – no doubt, Amy would've seen her right away.

Rouge clung effortlessly to the brick wall of the dusty motel, her nails easily sinking into the old structure. She waited a few seconds for the boy to look down again, before cautiously peeking in.

Her sensitive ears twitched instinctively as the twins held a small, whispered conversation before the little girl passed him a gel pen. The little boy gave him a handsome smile that seemed to take her breath away.

The little girl answered him with a smile too, but it seemed softer, tamer than his wilder one. It hinted at a maturity beyond her age, a quiet understanding that some things were things she could not change.

And Amy.

Even in her sleep, she was still beautiful. Not the obvious beauty that Rouge positively glowed with, but a more subtle one that drew everyone's eye instead of blinding them. Her face was more angular now, more… grown-up.

And somehow, less happy.

Right now, though, she was smiling in her sleep, though at what, she would never be able to tell.

They were all so happy.

And their happiness told her something that she had already known all along.

She couldn't do it.

A fang flashed as she bit her lips to keep herself from screaming in frustration. They were right there, so tempting, but truth be told, the only thing holding her back was her conscience… and perhaps a touch of pity.

She closed her eyes, and found her mind zooming back to what happened two years ago. How, even though her eyes burned with anger and vengeance, she saw a desperation that rivaled her very own. How her anger had only been dampened when her children were returned to her, just as how her own despair had been washed away when Ruby was brought back to life.

'Ruby…' The very name made her heart spasm painfully. 'Ruby… hang on…'

What would bringing the little boy do for her, really? Tails had not gone into any detail – he had merely gave her a rough location, and told her to bring the boy back in three days, the sooner, the better.

She was down to two days now.

It had been surprisingly easy to track down Amy and the twins. She had to admit that being on the run for three years had done little to improve Amy's stealth skills. Oh, she had tried, for sure, but there was no denying that without Sonic there, she could do very little to cover her tracks.

This had brought her to her next big surprise – 'Where is Sonic?'

She had thought for sure that Sonic would be right there with her. She could vaguely recall Knuckles's plan to break them up – to make it seem that Sonic had betray Amy, so that it would be easy to recapture the both of them at a later time. Surely they hadn't fallen for that obvious trick, had they?

'Then again, the two of them can be quite stubborn when they want to be…' she thought wryly.

Her ears suddenly caught a soft, 'tap-tap,' and she jerked her head up in surprise.

Her heart almost skipped a beat.

Nathaniel stared back at her, his pupiless eyes wide with something between fascination and fear.

Rouge felt her lips curve up into a smile despite her wildly pounding heart. She winked at him, and she saw him giggle.

It was exactly how Ruby would react.

She glanced around the room. His sister was just a little farther away from the window, holding onto the back of her brother. Her brother glanced swiftly back at Amy, before standing on tip-toe and unlatching the door.

Rouge froze.

Nathaniel poked out as far as he dared, and smiled at her, revealing a missing tooth. "Hi," he chirped, as quietly as possible.

Rouge couldn't breathe, torn between grabbing him, running away, or scolding him for talking to a stranger. "H-Hi…" she managed.

He tilted his head curiously. "How do you do that?" he asked, open like a child should be.

"Umm… do what?" she asked, a little nervously.

"Stay on the wall like that?" he clarified, waving his hand at her. His mouth was agape. "There's no… strings, are there?"

"What?" she asked, taken aback. Had Amy not told them not to talk to any strangers? "No, there are no strings. I do this all the time," she couldn't help adding with an absurd feeling of pride.

"Really?" His eyes sparkled with excitement. "Can you show me how?"

"Well, you see-"

"Come up to the roof!" Nathaniel interrupted her, before she could finish.

In a flash, they were both gone, presumably to the roof.

'… This can't be good…' Rouge thought to herself.

Full of misgiving, she made her way up.

Naomi shared the same feelings as Rouge. "Nathan…" She hoped she didn't sound whiny. "This is a bad idea…"

Nathaniel ignored her, and with a quick look to make sure Amy was asleep, he tugged her outside. "Come on, slowpoke! Don't be a scaredy-cat!"

"But… but Amy said…"

"Mommy's asleep! She'll be fine!"

Naomi stared back at the door as it clicked closed. The keycard was bouncing merrily in her pocket, as if even it was glad that it could go outside.

Naomi couldn't deny it. She wasn't scared, per-se, but Amy had warned them repeatedly that they shouldn't talk to strangers. That lady wasn't scary, and she didn't seem to want to harm them, but still…

"Wow! You're fast!"

Naomi blinked as sunlight streamed into her eyes. They were at the roof already?

The strange lady was there too. She was really pretty; she couldn't help noticing it.

Somehow, she was even more nervous of them then they were of her.

"I'm Nathaniel!" Nathan said happily, pointing a thumb at himself. Naomi blinked in astonishment. Nathan was breaking every single rule that Amy had ever taught them!

"Yes… hi…" The lady nodded politely.

Nathaniel pointed to his green-quilled sister. "This is…"

"No!" Naomi managed to hiss, as quietly as she could.

The boy blinked. "Why?" he asked, pouting.

"We're not supposed to give our names out to strangers!" she asserted, trying to sound as authoritative as she could.

Her twin rolled his eyes. "But she's not a stranger!"

It was Naomi's turn to be confused. "Huh?"

"We've met before!" He turned to the bat. "Haven't we?"

The lady looked shocked. "Err… yes…" She looked away. "A long time ago…"

"See?" Nathaniel stuck his tongue out at her. "Told ya!"

"So… so… you're a friend… of Amy's?" she asked, cautiously.

"A… friend…?" The lady smiled at her a little wryly. "I guess you can say that…"

"So… why are you here?" she asked, quickly deciding that a friend of Amy's wouldn't harm them.

"Uh… yes… well…" she stuttered. "I'm… visiting…"

Before Naomi could asked more, Nathaniel laughed. "You're cool!" he said, practically bouncing up and down in excitement. It was a bit infectious – Naomi could feel curiosity pushing cautiousness aside. She was kinda cool… and pretty… and they'd never met a friend of Amy's before.

"Thanks." The bat smiled. "I'm… err…"

"You don't have to give us your name if you don't want to." Naomi said, smiling shyly. When she received another pretty smile in return, she blushed in embarrassment.

"Hmm… don't you think that's a bad idea?" Her eyes softened. "Your mommy will be very worried if you don't go back… and she'd want to know who you've been talking to."

"But she wouldn't mind if it's a friend, would she?" Nathaniel asked.

"I – no, I guess not…"

"Hey, you have wings!" Naomi suddenly squealed in excitement. The bat raised an eyebrow at her, and Naomi blushed. "Umm..." she giggled nervously.

Nathaniel rolled his eyes again. "Girls are so weird…" he muttered.

"Umm…" Naomi gathered her courage. "Could you… maybe give me a ride?" she asked, putting in a good pout for extra measure. She noticed that Amy could never resist her when she did that.

The bat's eyes suddenly clouded over. She took a step back, her boots clicking. "Little girl, you know not to accept ride from a stranger, right? Even friends."

"Wait, don't leave!" Nathan shouted. The bat stopped backing away.

"I'm sorry!" Naomi wailed. She had upset Mommy's friend! Oh, she was in so much trouble…

"Oh, honey, hey, it's alright…" Naomi found herself being embraced by the bat. When had she gotten so close? "Hey, it's not big deal… just… be careful, alright?"

Naomi sniffled. Mommy's friend felt… really nice. She sniffled again. She smelled really nice too, not like Mommy, but still, nice.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Rouge! Get away from her!"

She was dreaming again.

Strange, how everything in the real world seemed fake now. Her dreams seemed much more vivid, much more solid then the hazy universe she'd wake up to every morning. Even she herself seemed to be made of gas when she woke up, the only solid thing holding her down being Nathan and Naomi.

And yet, her dreams were not real.

She had to keep reminding herself that whenever she woke, and whenever she slept.

The only relief she had in her dreams were that they weren't the same anymore.

"Hi, Amy."

Yes, her dreams were different – but not better.

"Sonic." She let the name drop like a dead weight off her lips. She turned; saw him sitting on a bench a few feet away. Where was she? She looked around. Nothing but pearly white fog met her wandering gaze.

She couldn't see Sonic clearly either, only on particular parts of him as she focused her eyes. Right now, she could only see his mouth moving.

"Sit." She shifted her eyes; saw his hand patting the delicately carved metal of the seat beside him.

"Hmph." She turned away from him. What did he take her for? Did he think she would really sit with him?

Though she was a bit tired…

Her ear twitched when she heard him sighing. There were the sounds of footsteps walking away from her, and she turned around. 'Is he actually leaving me alone?'

"Of course I'm not." Amy flinched; sure that she had said that in her head. She heard Sonic laughing, amused. "Sit," he said again, a hand gesturing towards the now-empty bench.

She growled in annoyance. She really didn't have any excuse to not listen to him now. She walked forward, willing every particle of her body to ignore his presence, sitting down on the cool metal of the bench.

"You need to find me, don't you?" she heard him asking.

She huffed, turning away. "Don't sound so happy. It's not like I want to."

"I know," he replied cheerfully. "You still hate me, right?"

She turned towards him sharply. "And don't forget it."

His smile was gone now, but his eyes were still twinkling merrily. "Oh, I haven't. It's hard to, you know."

She made a contemptuous noise in the back of her throat. 'He is one infuriating hedgehog.'

"I could say the same thing to you."

"Oh, so you're a mind reader now?" she snapped, disturbed that he had seen through her so easily.

"No, Amy. I wish I was though, sometimes." She caught the sounds of his shoes shifting on the ground. "You're so easy to read," she heard him say teasingly. "But here, it's even easier."

"So, if I'm easier to read here, does that make you even more of a coward here?" she asked, putting as much venom as she could muster into her words.

He shrugged, the twinkle refusing to fade. "This is the one place we don't have to hide from each other."

"'Don't have to?'" she asked. She shook her head. "You mean, 'can't.'"

Sonic's lips curved up into a smirk. "Huh… it's too bad the twins can't come here. It'd be nice to see them, and they'd like it here." He suddenly sounded worried. "You like it here, don't you?"

Amy's eyes narrowed until only a slit of green was showing. "Of course I don't," she shot back, getting more and more annoyed by the second. "How can I like it if you're here?"

"You don't like it…" She saw the incline of his chin as he contemplated that. "But this is happening inside your head, isn't it?"

Amy waved his comments aside with a scoff. "Doesn't matter – this is only a dream, anyway."

"Only a dream, hmm?" She stiffened at his, "I-know-something-you-don't" voice. "But you don't like it here, inside your own head?" he asked, sounding confused.

"I can't even escape from you in it," she heard herself say before she could stop herself. "… and it seems…" She took a breath, steadying herself. "I can't even escape from you in real life, anymore…"

"…" Sonic was silent for a moment, and Amy relished in the silence. "That… really is too bad, isn't it?" he asked her in a muted voice.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked.

"… I think you know…" he replied, his tone light again.

Amy's fingers twitched, as if it was missing it's usual presence of a weapon. "Is this some sort of stupid, noble, heroic reason again?"

Sonic's lips pressed together into a straight line. "… Maybe," he relented.

Amy's shoulders sagged. "… Yeah, well…" She forced herself to meet his eyes. The twinkle had been snuffed out now, and it gave her great pleasure to know that she could distinguish it as she pleased. "I'm only looking for you for the twins."

"I know that already," he told her.

"... So can't you make it easier and less painful for all of us, and just tell me where you are?" she half asked, half demanded.

Strangely, that brought a smile back to Sonic's face. "Sorry, but I can't," he chirped pleasantly. "This is only a dream, remember?"

"What?" Amy burst. "So this… this is all fake?" she asked, gesturing towards the metal bench. It couldn't be, could it? You couldn't feel cold metal in your dreams. 'But my dreams aren't real…' she reminded herself again. But her inner voice didn't sound so sure.

Sonic's smile was still there. "I said it was a dream, not that it was fake."

"… I don't get it," she admitted unwillingly.

"I don't really either," Sonic answered thoughtfully. "But that doesn't matter," he interrupted her, before she could ask another question. "I've got to go now… try hard to look for me, alright?"

"What? Hey, wait!" she cried out in desperation at his already retreating back.

He stopped, but didn't turn around. "Yes?"

"… I thought you were here because you wanted to see me." She couldn't mask the hint of disappointment in her voice. "Don't you want to see the twins?" she asked, as if it would make up for her tiny moment of weakness. "… Don't you want to see me?" she added again, reluctantly.

Sonic half-turned his head, his eyes meeting hers. "… Sorry, Amy. I can't answer you that right now. This is only a dream, remember?"

Then Sonic was gone.

And she woke up.

A/N: And that's the chapter XD Everything is slowly coming together, and we're really glad for the people who've stuck with us the whole entire time :D The reviews, alerts, and favs have really encouraged us to keep going, and some of you guys have really good ideas, and interesting insights - it's fun reading them! So thanks again!

Oh, and a question that a couple of people have asked us about the last chapter, "Was Amy dreaming?"

The answer is, yes, she was dreaming. However, just to confuse you all, that doesn't mean the events didn't really happen.

Anyway, there's a few question you guys could answer for us though, just out of curiosity:

1) As most of you are aware (hopefully), this story is being written by two authors - The Queen of Aces and I. Since our writing styles are different (slightly, at the very least), does that bug you or disrupt the flow of the story in any way?

2) Are either Nathaniel or Naomi starting to feel Mary-Sue? Keep in mind that they're still OC's that we've made up, so it'd be nice to get some feedback.

3) Is the story itself hard to understand? We do have a few parts that we are intentionally being left a mystery (at least for a while), but since it's written by two different people, someone might forget that one of us added something to the story (that someone being me) and accidently contradict ourselves.

4) Is it getting boring, and what can we improve on?

And that's all. More questions might be asked in the future.

S'all for now! HAPPY NEW YEARS AGAIN!

Anonymous Reviews:

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The Queen of Aces

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