A/N: Happy Victoria Day!

(crickets chirp)

Yeah… another Canadian holiday ;; But at least I have the day off!

Anyway, have fun reading! I have a history essay to do… stupid history…

And please don't give me grief about using an Inuyasha quote. Please.

Dedicated to Marianne

"It's something you had to learn. That when your heart wishes to save someone dear you… It must at the same time feel sadness and fear of losing them."

Sesshomaru's Mother from "Inuyasha."

azngirlchibi: I would also like to dedicate this chapter to the victims and their families and friends of the Sichuan earthquake, as well as the reviewers who have been calling for Amy's blood.

"Happy birthday to you…"

Someone was singing.

No, lots of people were singing. They were singing to someone… but it couldn't be to her. Not to Ruby. Ruby was sleeping, and you only sang lullabies to someone who was sleeping. But if they were singing "Happy Birthday," did that mean they were having a party without her? She couldn't miss a party. Parties were fun!

"Happy birthday to you…"

Ruby struggled to move a little, but her arms felt really heavy, and she couldn't even lift herself a little with her wings. Whose birthday was it anyway? She couldn't remember what date it was today, or even if it was morning or night.

Plus, it was really weird how nothing hurt now. She remembered something hurting her… but… now she was all better. All better…

"Ruby… do you remember what day it is today?"

The sudden voice made Ruby jump a little, but the voice was really warm and comforting… sort of like Momma's voice, but different. "… Huh? Who're you?"

Sharp, violet eyes flashed before her, along with a flutter of red dreadlocks. "Ruby…"

Ruby tried to talk. "… Daddy?" she managed to whisper.

"Happy birthday to Ruby…"

"Daddy…?" she asked again. "Daddy… where you been? Is today my birthday?"

A fuzzy shadow appeared, but she could see someone smiling at her. "Yeah, Ruby." A hand rubbed her head affectionately. "I wanted to say 'Happy Birthday.'"

"Daddy…" She grabbed his huge hands in her tiny ones, nuzzling it and inhaling deeply. "Daddy… will you stay for my birthday?"

"Sorry, kiddo. I just wanted to tell you to wake up. You have a lot of people waiting for you to wake up for your party. Didn't Momma say something about giving you a big party this time?"

Ruby nodded vigorously, excitement shining in her eyes. "Yeah, Momma promised!" But her excitement quickly died away. "Daddy… will you come back and visit me soon?"

"Soon, Ruby, I promise. Just wake up, okay?"

"Daddy…"

Her eyes flew open.

The singing suddenly stopped mid-way.

Ruby let her aqua eyes scanned the crowd, curiosity written all over her face. Weird! She couldn't name half the people crowded around her, but they all looked worried about her. But she was only sleeping, right?

So how come everyone looked so worried?

Her eyes caught the ones of her Momma's, and for a reason she couldn't understand, her image went fuzzy as her eyes got wet, like trying to stare at someone through frosted glass.

But then, someone jumped out. A really pretty looking girl with sickly-pale green quills, and a tiny body, as if she wouldn't be able to even survive a game of tag. But her arms were spread out wide and held out at her, like she was waiting to take her hands and pull her up. She was smiling widely, and her teeth gleamed as she sang the rest of the song:

"Happy birthday to you!"

Suddenly, Ruby was being buried with a flurry of hugs and kisses, bodies crushing down and knocking the breath out of her, laugher and sobs ringing through the air and into her sensitive ears.

And even though there were no toys, no balloons, no clown, no piñata, and she had no idea where she was, she couldn't help thinking that someone had just given her the best present ever.

Watching her son work miracles should've been enough for Amy.

As the children ran around, delighted at their newfound friends, Amy felt a pang of loneliness, even with so much life around her. She couldn't help feeling like a wilted weed in the middle of a field of towering sunflowers, looking up and wondering if they would ever notice the ugly little thing at their feet.

"Hey, Amy, wake up!"

Amy looked up, meeting Rouge's eyes. "Rouge?"

She smiled at her. "Hon, what's eating at you?"

Amy looked down at her boots, scuffing the grass uncomfortably with their toes. It was easy for Rouge to be so happy. And it wasn't like Amy herself didn't feel a tiny glimmer of happiness as Ruby delightedly showed off her flight skills… but… 'What's wrong with me?'

Why did she feel like she was just reading a book and experiencing someone else's happiness? Why didn't she feel like she was truly happy from the bottom of her heart?

"You know, I find it funny that you're still here."

Amy stopped her shoes. "What are you talking about?" she muttered uncomfortably. She could see the answer coming…

"Shouldn't you be going after Sonic?"

The pink hedgehog inhaled deeply, blowing out a breath that made her bangs flutter. Of course Rouge would ask that. "Yeah… well…"

She felt a hand on her shoulder. "Amy, you have to stop running away now, don't you think?"

She looked up sharply, startling Vanilla. Too late, she tried to soften her gaze. "Sorry, Vanilla. I just… I can't go in. I can't."

Rouge rolled her eyes, surprising Amy. "Hon, I've been hanging around you for less than a few weeks, and I already know that there's nothing you can't do." She grinned at her slyly. "Besides, you can't let Sonic take all the credit, can you? It'd make a good story for when you're older."

Amy felt anger starting to fill her. Rouge's tone of voice…! "Look, there's no point, okay? He wants to die! I don't have any right to stop someone who wants to die!" She squeezed her fist. Her swollen knuckles were starting to bleed now, the blood staining through her gloves like rice paper, wet and warm through her fingers, the smell making her head spin.

"Amy, dear… If he dies, all the answers to your questions will disappear with him."

Amy's eyes widened, and she stared at the older woman. Her eyes looked down at hers tiredly. "You know… I disowned Cream when I found out that she was hunting you, Sonic, and the twins down." Leaves rustled, casting their wildly dancing shadows around the old rabbit's face. "I never bothered to ask her why she was hunting you down… or maybe it was because I didn't care." A few tears slid down her cheeks. "Maybe I was just as blinded as we all were… but either way, she's gone now, and I'll never get to ask." She took a deep breath, facing Amy squarely. "I don't want you to feel the way I do. I'm not asking you to rescue him. I'm asking…"

Amy suddenly placed a finger over Vanilla's lips. "Shush, Vanilla." She managed a small smile. "It's okay. I get it. I'll go ask him… I have a lot of questions I want answered."

Vanilla smiled back. She stepped away from the girl. "Take care," she said simply.

Amy forced another smile, before turning around and running through towards the jail, her steps thumping loudly.

Rouge and Vanilla watched her retreating back. "She really doesn't know anything, does she?" asked Rouge, sadness colouring her voice.

Vanilla shook her head. "If only we could've explained to her… but she wouldn't believe a word of what we'd have to say."

The bat huffed. "That Sonic has better watch it… or it might really be the end of the world."

Vanilla turned to Rouge, laughing lightly. "I think Sonic can handle her."

Rouge joined the rabbit's laughter. "Say, how about you and me spend what may possibly be the last few minutes until the end of the world with the kids?"

Vanilla nodded. "I guess we really can't do anything else, can we?"

Rouge shook her head. "Our part is done. Let's hope they'll finish theirs too."

'Depressing…' Sonic thought as he ran through the jail that was falling apart.

He tried to concentrate on the tmp, tmp, tmp, of his feet on the metal flooring, but found that if he looked down, he could see how the floors were starting to ooze with… with… something that was an unpleasant shade of green-brown. But he knew that if he dared to look up, he would see the tiny prisons that must've once held thousands of people squashed together until their faces were pressed right up against the bars. The broken lights and swinging wires did nothing to lighten the mood.

Sonic shuddered, before taking a right. He had been here… once. But it was in the building that Tails had built and attached to this jail, where he had thousands of different machines whirring – a constant hum that drowned out the screams of the ghosts that still existed behind the bars.

Finally, he opened a door.

This room was huge and welcoming compared to the jail. There was no roof, so it seemed like the whole building itself went on and on until it touched the soft, twinkling stars in the night sky. The machines were dead silent. Some looked like they had been turned off at the last moment – Sonic could see a tiny robot with its arms lifted up and reaching for something on a shelf, only to be frozen before it could finish its task.

Sonic stepped inside, the door still swinging wide open.

Bang!

Before Sonic could do anything else, bars slid down from nowhere, blocking his way out. He grabbed at the bars without thinking, pulling as hard as he could – but he was no Knuckles, and the bars merely grinned at him like a beast showing off its sharp, black teeth.

Sonic slowly turned around.

"Tails?" he called, cautiously.

Nothing answered him back.

He scanned the room, his body tense. "Tails!" he called, louder this time.

"Subject identified: Sonic the Hedgehog. Now playing recording."

The cool, female voice almost made Sonic jump out of his skin. He breathed out – he was way too nervous.

"Hey, Sonic and Amy. What took you so long? Well, I'm probably not in right now… Anyway, I'll be down as soon as I can. And please don't try to get out. There's an electric grid over the roof, so don't even think of trying to climb your way out. You can't turn anything in the room on without the master switch either. Enjoy your last few hours together!"

Bleep.

Sonic raised his eyebrow at the ending. 'He thought Amy and I would be together…' He sighed. Well, there was one more cheerless victory to add to his list.

"Sonic!" someone hissed loudly.

Sonic turned around, and his eyes widened in horror. "Amy?!" He rushed towards the barred exit, squinting in the darkness and praying he was wrong.

He wasn't.

"What are you doing here? How did you even get in here?" he hissed back, pressing as closely as he could against the bars, the cold iron cutting marks into his skin.

Her large, green eyes glared up at him. He grimly registered that she wasn't as short as she used to be, and she didn't had to crane her head up to look at his face. "I was here once before too, remember?"

Sonic flinched. 'Yeah, seeing as I was the one who got you in here in the first place…' "Well, why are you here?"

She chewed on the bottom of her lip, mulling something over. "I… I have some questions."

Sonic groaned. "So you came into the building of a potential maniac just so you could ask me some questions?"

She huffed. "You should've given me some time to ask!"

Sonic growled, realizing that they were wasting their time arguing. "Fine. I'll answer one question, and then, you have to leave! Tails could be down here any minute!" He crossed his arms, tapping his foot impatiently. He needed her to get out of here.

"…" Amy gripped the bars with one of her hands.

"… Hey, Amy… what've you done to your hand?"

Amy blinked. "What…?" She took her hand off, her eyes widening as she stared at her knuckles, as if she had just realized that they were painfully bruised. Dried, caked blood fell away in flakes as she rubbed it softly. "It's… it's nothing, I…"

Sonic's eyes narrowed into glowing green slits. "Don't 'nothing' me. Did Tails do something? Did one of his machines…. Or…"

"Sonic, forget about my hand for a second and answer my question." Her gaze was steely on his. "Sonic… I need to know… that day, when you… you sold me," she spat the word out, "to Knuckles… Why did you do it?"

Sonic visibly shrank. 'One question, and she asks the hardest one.' "Amy, I can't answer that question."

"Why?!" she burst out. "Did you just do it for fun? Or did you just decide to switch sides? Did the twins not matter to you anymore?" All the anger buried over that one incident erupted out of the grave that she had forced them under, and she could feel white-hot hatred running through her body.

"Amy…"

She stopped. "What?" she growled.

"Amy… Knuckles caught me. With the twins."

She froze.

Sonic closed his eyes, reliving the horror of that day. "He had me chained up on the floor… I guess he was really just distracting me. Shadow… he was the one who was really supposed to threaten me, I suppose." He shuddered. "He had Naomi in his arms… and… and a knife," he choked. "…a knife under her throat. And he gave me a choice: Either I told him where you were, or Naomi… Naomi's blood would be on his hands. So I… so I…" He spluttered to a stop.

"So…you told them where I was. You told them… so you could save the twins…" Amy finished softly for him. She felt her shoulders shaking. She had been harboring this hatred for what seemed like forever… and that was the reason he betrayed her? She nearly crumbled into a heap. 'It was so simple… if only I had tried to see…'

"I… I was a fool too," Sonic continued. "I thought that I could save the twins… and then save you too. But you were suddenly there with that gun in your hands…" Sonic seemed to scramble for the words. "I guess I froze up. And you looked like you wouldn't listen to a word I say… so I… I don't know…"

"Why did you lie to me?!"

Sonic's mouth dropped open. "What?"

Amy's lip trembled, and tears ran freely down her face. She wiped them angrily, and tears smeared across her cheeks. "Why didn't you just tell me? Why didn't you tell me earlier? I might've… I might've…" 'I might've not spent all this time hating you! I might've not spent all so much time running away like… like a coward!'

"After we left, I was going to tell you… but you ran away." Sonic's eyes shadowed with pain. "You left with the twins… and I figured I would just finally leave you alone. I would just stop being with you. I mean…" She felt him touch her cheek softly from around the bars, but she felt too weak to move away. "You seem to always cry the most when you're around me."

Amy pulled herself away from him. "Of course I cry the most when you're around me!" she yelled. Sonic stepped back in bewilderment, but Amy suddenly found the strength to be angry. "You're… you're always so selfish! You were always so sad… so depressed…" Her shoulder shook, her bangs soaking in her tears. "And then… and then you decided that you would go off and die!"

"How many times do I have to repeat myself? I'm only doing it so you guys don't die!" Sonic yelled back.

"Did you ever think that I don't want you to die?"

Sonic stared at her, stunned. "… Amy?"

Amy's cheeks were red from fury. "Yeah, that's right. I don't want you to die!" She swallowed hard. "I… I didn't even figure that out until just this moment…" she said, much quieter this time. Admitting it cost her.

She continued, holding onto the bars again and looking at Sonic dead in the eyes. "It's just… it's just hard to admit that I don't hate you after I've hated you for so long…" The words stung her. 'I don't hate you…' So then, what did she feel?

"…" Sonic looked away from her, towards the twinkling stars in the sky. "… Heh…"

Amy was startled. "What?"

He laughed at her. "Selfish? Me? Nice."

Amy's eyes narrowed into slits. "What are you talking about?"

"You're telling me I'm selfish." Sonic looked down at her coolly. "And yet, you were the one who's been running away from me the whole time."

That stung. "That was because…"

"Because of what?" Sonic cut her off. "You know what? When you left, I had a lot of time to think. And I came to a conclusion about you – you're the most selfish brat I've ever came across. Not only did you abandon us all, but you've never considered anyone else's feelings." Sonic's knuckles whitened around the iron rods. "Yes, I was sad. Yes, I was depressed. So what? You left me because I was just a little imperfect. When I kissed you on the plane, when I showed you my one moment of weakness, you freaked. Is imperfection too beneath you to accept?"

Amy could do nothing but listen, too stunned to retort.

Sonic grounded his teeth together, as if trying and failing to keep back his torrent of words. "Sure, I'm a hero to millions around the world, but I still feel emotions. You used to chase me everywhere because you said that I was the love of your life, but when I left you alone on the road, you would cry your heart out. Now that I'm showing you a little bit of affection, you reject me. Is this your idea of revenge, Amy? Or is it that… now that you've caught me, you have no idea what to do?"

Sonic was breathing hard now. "You know, when I was still a kid, I did think of what it would be like with you. I thought that I would be the one to protect you from everything on the world, and you would be the one to help me when I was hurting, or some romantic shit like that."

"Stop it already!"

Sonic wrestled with his mouth for a moment, before falling silent. He leaned back slightly, having said his piece.

"Fine, Sonic. I admit it. I've been a bitch." Amy looked away from him. She had no idea how much his words could hurt. Now that she thought about it, she had only ever let his annoyance at her bounce off like rocks thrown at a brick wall. She had never had to be on the receiving end of his fury – in fact, when was the last time he'd gotten mad? "I… to tell you the truth, I'm new to this… this… this love thing." Even saying the word felt strange. "I never thought… I never thought it'd be like this! I never thought we'd be running for our lives!" Amy's fingers lost their grip on the barrier separating the two of them, and fell with a dull thump to her side. "I never thought that… that it'd be so… so…"

Sonic looked down at her. "Amy." There was no sympathy in his voice.

She managed to look at him. "What."

"It's okay to admit it, you know."

"Okay… to admit what?" she asked.

"It's okay to admit that you're scared." Sonic's fingers lightly touched her shoulder through the bars. "To tell you the truth, I've been scared from day one."

Amy's breath caught. His expression… why was it suddenly so open now? He looked so frightened, his eyes as round as a child's in the dark. Amy fought with herself for a moment. "… Sonic… what would happen if I admitted that?"

"I would help you if you let me," Sonic answered simply.

"What if I didn't let you help me?"

"That would depend on if you trust me." Sonic leaned a little closer to her. "Amy, you've changed… a lot. And I'm not saying that it's all bad." His fingers squeezed her shoulder a little harder. "But I know that you're scared. I know that you're as scared as I am. And if you let me… I want to be the one who saves you."

She closed her eyes. 'Just say it, then,' she thought to herself. 'Sonic, I'm scared.'

'Sonic, I'm scared.'

'Sonic, I'm scared.'

"Sonic, I'm scared. I'm really scared. I don't…" she choked up. "I don't want you to leave me…" She gathered a shuddering breath. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry!"

For the first time in a long while, she let herself collapse in his arms. A part of her kept saying that this was wrong… She couldn't show weakness in front of him! She couldn't cry in front of him! She couldn't let herself break in front of him! She had to move!

'Later…' she answered herself, letting the sobs wrack through her body, his arms holding her sides so tightly that she could barely breathe. 'I'll move later…Or maybe… maybe I'll never move from here…'

A/N: There, people. You wanted Amy's blood, you got it.

Anyways, I wanted to talk a little bit about why I started the chapter the way I did. See, I was watching the news about the Sichuan earthquake (over twenty thousand dead, missing, or wounded… and the numbers are still going up), and I saw the rescue workers bringing out this poor little girl from under the rubble. The rescue workers found out that the day of the earthquake was the girl's birthday, so they all started singing "Happy Birthday" to her to wake her up, and the girl started moving a little after a while. I don't know how she's doing now, but I that was how I got the idea to start the chapter the way I did. It's sort of like a memento.

Oh, and I'm really sorry for not getting to read all your fics. I usually don't get many requests to read, though I do offer, but suddenly, five people asked me to read their stories (Yes, that's a lot to me!)… I have three down, and two to go, so if you're one of the two who requested but still haven't heard from me, I'll get to it ASAP. And by "ASAP," I mean, if I ever survive this history essay.

Thanks for reading! And hallelujah, I finally got around to answering reviews Sorry, I didn't do the ones from the previous chapter I've missed…

Anonymous Reviews:

Hikaru za Kitsune: Aww, thanks a bunch! We're not trying to crush anyone's spirit, but what's a story without a bit of drama? Heh, darn the stupid review button. You know, after you finish reading, there should be a button that pops up and goes, "CLICK ME AND REVIEW, OR ELSE!" I think a lot of writers will be happy if that ever happens XD Oh, and I saw the thing about this "Dexter" fella being Amy's boyfriend. Personally, I think Amy's just bluffing to see if Sonic reacts… I mean, SEGA wouldn't let the franchise get that bad (conveniently forgets about Elise and Sharhra), so let's just cross our fingers and hope for the best. Thanks for reading!

Kia hedgie: Whoa, pulled an all-nighter? Honored. Hmm… I don't think it would be possible to use the poems. Just because it might or might not fit the overall mood of the chapter, you know. And you don't have an account, and you can't post stories or poems as reviews. Sorry 'bout that. Thanks for reviewing!

kitsunepowaa: I KNOW, I'M SO EXCITED FOR THE GAMES! Though as I've said before in another comment, "I wonder if I'm a fool for getting excited." A lot of people were hyped about Sonic '06… and look at what happened to that (Not trying to insult you or anyone who enjoyed that game, by the way). I have high hopes for Sonic RPG and Sonic Unleashed, so I hope SEGA does a good job this time! Thanks for reading!

Thank you all for taking your time to go through this story!

The Queen of Aces

azngirlchibi