A/N: LONG LIVE PROCRASTINATION! Yeah, ok... Anyways, I beat Sonic Adventure DX yesterday... and it was actually not as hard as I thought it would be. And when I played the last final "Super Sonic" level... well, I was watching the cutscene, and I was like, "Holy #!$, this sounds almost exactly like my fanfic!" You know, the whole "Chaos only used the negative energy of the Chaos Emeralds," thingy. And I've never, ever played Sonic DX before recently, so my hopes were kinda shot down that this would be an original story (in terms of Chaos Emerald theory). Oh, well. Trust me, this is definatly not the first time it happened to me...

Another note: my parents thought it would be nice to "surprise" me about the trip we might be taking this year (for summer... I haven't went anywhere yet...). We might be leaving... around... (checks calender)... the second week of August-ish? If my parents aren't too busy. So I'll try to squeeze in one or two chapters before I leave, ok?

So here's the fic, and enjoy!

BTW, SONIC RIDERS DOES NOT SUCK!

Age Changes:

Sonic: 23

Amy: 20

Tails: 16

Cream: 14

Eggman: Unknown

Metal Sonic: Unknown

Knuckles: 24

Rouge: 26

Shadow: Older than I'll ever live to be...

Vector: 28

Espio: 24

Charmy: 14

Disclaimer: (Gasp!) Omg, the disclaimer is down here this time! WOW! (ahem) I'm ok... and I don't own no Sonic... He and any related character belongs to SEGA (which, strangely, is AGES spelt backwords...)

"I hate you…"

Cream's hands were clenched to her sides, shaking uncontrollably.

"I hate you… I hate you… I hate you!" she screamed at Sonic. She launched herself at him blindly, not caring if she hit him or not. She couldn't get those images out of her mind… the way Tails had fell slowly forward, as if in a dream, the way the blood poured out of the wound in his head, how the blood covered the stone that Sonic clutched in his hand, and how his eyes had turned from soft to hard again as easily as a snake shed it's skin.

"I hate you!" she sobbed, but her movements were still strong. Sonic hadn't moved for some reason. All her kicks landed, her punches smashed into him hard. His body was shaking from her blows.

Suddenly, Sonic caught one of her fists just before they landed on his face. Cream shook, her body convulsing horribly from anger, pushing away the pain of the slashes across her front.

Her body was lifted into the air, giving her no time to react. She was flung roughly by the arm, so hard that she felt her shoulder pop out of place. She landed on something sharp, and it buried itself into her back, knocking the wind out of her. She groaned as she weakly tried to push herself up, but she was pushed back down. Cream looked up, trying to breathe as more pressure was applied to her chest, and the sharp pain in her back increased.

Sonic had her trapped under his foot. He was slowly crushing her, his ears perking every time he added more weight and received a gasp. "How does it feel, Cream?" he spat at her. "How does it feel to die such a slow death? How does it feel to think that the next breath you take may be your last, that every single breath of air you take in is like Death entering your body?" He stepped harder onto her chest, slowly crushing her lungs. "You start to feel desperate don't you? Don't you see? That was why my other side appeared…" His eyes seemed to turn even harder, if it was possible. "He's afraid of Death. He doesn't want to die."

Cream's mind was starting to kick into overdrive, yet it was also slowly starting to dull. Images were starting to die, and the red haze that had swum before her eyes was starting to darken into a thick fog. 'I don't want to die,' she realized. 'I… I still have so much to live for, so much to look forward to…' The image of Tails, with his face in the mud, came back to him. 'No… he's not dead! He's not dead! I know he isn't! No one's dead, no one! No one's going to die; they have to be still alive!' She felt like she was six again, holding onto a silly hope like that. 'They're not dead! If… if the real Sonic is still in there…' The image of his eyes, his real eyes, appearing again, even if it was for a second, came back to her, giving her hope. 'He would never… I still have hope. I need to hope, and I need to live!'

"I…" Cream choked out. She slowly brought a hand up to the foot he had on her chest. "I'm not… going… to die!"

Sonic looked back down at her. "Heh, you still have the breath to talk? We'll fix that…"

Cream's eyes started darting frantically around, trying to see through the darkening fog. A sudden, dull shine caught her eye. Without thinking, she reached out for it as quickly as she could, and threw it at Sonic with her remaining strength.

She was surprised when she heard a cry of pain, and the pressure on her chest was lifted. A rush of air raced it's way into her lungs, and she gulped it down eagerly. The dark red in her eyes thinned back into a mist that danced around the edges of her vision.

The glimmering objects that had shone before her eyes started to sharpen and define themselves before her eyes. 'The Chaos Emeralds!'

Sonic had thrown her, and she had landed in the midst of the Chaos Emeralds!

Cream looked back up at Sonic. A horrible burn mark had appeared on his shoulder, and he was actually grimacing in pain. The Chaos Emerald she had thrown had burned through the bits of fur that hadn't been singed off by the lightening strike, and exposed his skin. It started to blister.

'H-how? How did I…?' She stared at the wound with a mixture of awe and disgust on her face. 'Why did the Chaos Emerald burn his skin?'

Then, as if from a long forgotten dream, Knuckles's words came back to her, so loudly and clearly that she looked back at his body to see if he was really talking to her, though of course, he wasn't. "The Chaos Emeralds have to have a good balance of both negative and positive energy. The other Chaos Emeralds must've sense the imbalance, and started reacting to the amount of negative energy coming off of Sonic that he absorbed."

'So… is this another way that the Chaos Emeralds react to the imbalance?' She shook her head, an old habit of hers when she was confused. 'Well… I don't know what's happening, but…' She reached down, grabbing the green and yellow Chaos Emeralds off the ground, ignoring her protesting body. '… I can defend myself now.' She rushed at Sonic in a burst of speed.

Sonic was too busy, and too astonished at the pain in his shoulder to pay attention to the rabbit before him. This side of him didn't know pain… didn't know loss, or any of those weak emotions. Pain surprised him, even angered him. 'I shouldn't have to feel this. I don't need this emotion… it's useless!'

Oblivious to Sonic's thoughts and increasing anger, Cream held out the two Emeralds before her and pushed them into Sonic's face.

A horrible scream, worse than any nightmare that had ever crossed Cream's mind, was what she was answered with. She pressed on though, trying to ignore the screams, the intensifying smell of blood that made her eyes water. 'I can do this… I can do this!'

Suddenly, her wrist was grabbed and twisted, painfully. The yellow Chaos Emerald fell out of her hand, and the screams lessened. Unwilling to give up, Cream tried even harder to keep the green Emerald gripped in her hand and in Sonic's face, but even that one was painfully pried out of her hands too. Sonic seemed to hold onto this Emerald for a while as the thin material of his glove started to burn through, but as soon as it touched his skin, he threw it somewhere behind him.

Somehow, they way he stared at her with true anger in his eyes was even scarier than his now mutilated face. No more playfulness, no more cruel enjoyment. Just simple, pure, anger.

He grabbed Cream's face, forcing it closer to his. Sonic squeezed it as hard as he could, until painfully tears started to collect around the corner of her eyes. "You… you made me feel this!" He threw Cream away from him, disgusted. "You made me feel this! You made me feel this!" Sonic said it, over and over again, anger building with every word.

Cream was beyond frightened, beyond desperate. Her sense were gone, feelings were gone, even her instincts seemed to have disappeared.

But maybe it was better that way.

Maybe it was better that she wouldn't hear herself scream.

There was silence… pure and complete, like the world had stood still.

'No more pain… no more sorrow… no more love…'

Her eyes were wide open, yet she saw nothing. The hard ground beneath her dug into her clothing, her fur, and her skin, yet she couldn't feel it. And even though her heart felt like it was slowly being ripped out of her chest, an empty void felt like it had swallowed all her emotions.

Amy would be in perfect bliss… if she could feel bliss…

'No more… no more…'

Everything that had happened after Sonic had struck her was a huge blur. She vaguely remembered being moved… and then somehow… she had ended up inside this computer…

Oh yes… there was one thing that she did remember… the screams… screams that cried for help, that pleaded for mercy, that sounded as broken as she felt, that pierced through the silence she was surrounded in…

'… But I don't care anymore…'

'I don't have the breath to scream anymore… I don't have the tears to cry anymore… and I don't have a heart to feel anymore…'

She wanted none of it. She didn't want to feel the love that used to flow through her veins, she didn't want to feel that exhilaration she'd always felt when she simply breathed, when the sunlight warmed her face…

… Or when Sonic met her gaze…

A searing pain swept through her very being. It was like the empty void… the bottomless, empty void had finally run out of room to hold her feelings.

And just because of one name.

'No!' Emotions, timeless… ageless… they whirled around her, mocking her, spited her… 'I don't want them… I don't want them anymore… they hurt… they hurt too much…'

Where were the tears to rid them when she needed them? For that was what tears had always been for to Amy… emotions that she wanted to get rid off, emotions that she couldn't handle.

'Sonic…'

First, she felt the love that had once coursed through her. She could almost taste the name on her lips, the way it rolled off her tongue so easily. How her heart had pounded the first time he had saved her! And all the adventures they had together afterwards were something that she would never forget, all the times she had looked at him as he saved the day were moments that she cherished. She felt the familiar warmth that flushed from her heart and to every part of her body as she imagined him and his sparkling eyes before her…

Then, there was the sorrow again, the hate. Instantly, the image of those eyes disappeared. How easily he had made her… and how easily he had broken her again. And again. And again. How many times had she looked at that picture of them together and felt like ripping it into little pieces? How many times had she thought of those memories where he had comforted her, consoled her, and then of the times he had ran away like she didn't exist? How many times had she waited for him, only to be disappointed?

'And yet… how many times had he returned to you? How many times did you look at that picture… that exact same picture… and felt all your troubles go away? How many times had you told him that you loved him, and thought that you saw his eyes shine a little?'

But these were just emotions. More emotions. Why couldn't they just leave her now? Leave her now, once and for all. Maybe then she would have peace. Maybe then she could feel her heart beating without thinking of the feelings that it could bring. Sadness, hate, longing, joy, and… and love. Yes, even love. She even wanted that feeling to disappear from her life.

'Why? Why can't they just leave me alone?'

An image of emerald green eyes came back to her, soft and enticing, beckoning her towards them.

'That's why…'

Amy couldn't help herself. She felt herself being pulled once again, irresistibly pulled along like she was holding onto a piece of string. The eyes seemed to turn brighter and brighter, engulfing her in an oasis that was dyed the softness of green light.

"Hey, Amy."

It was gone. The cold, the dirt, the base, the storm. All of it was gone. Amy had dived deep into a warm, green pool, but her back was pressed up against someone else's, his spines soft against hers. She tried to turn around to face the figure, but somehow, her body didn't want to. It was perfectly content to be right there, right near this person.

"Amy?" She felt the head shift a little, and she could almost see the cocky smile that she knew would've spread across it. "Long time no see…"

The green, watery oasis seemed to shift around her. "Am I dreaming…?"

A chuckle answered her. Amy didn't know that she had said those words out loud. "It's me, Amy. No one else."

The voice brought back so many memories. She thought that she had sealed them away forever, never to be seen again… but they were back, but they weren't the ones that had mocked her earlier. They felt like warm, watery fingers that stroked her face tenderly, and she almost reached out to see if an invisible figure was in front of her.

"Amy…" The soft, gentle voice soothed her again, and she relaxed even more against the person's back. The voice laughed again. "Are you going to be ok, now?"

Tears suddenly sprang to her eyes, and they turned into little bubbles that floated away from her. She bit back a sob. "Sonic… I'm sorry… I'm so, so, sorry…"

"Sorry?" Amy could almost see his smile lessen. "Sorry for what?"

This time, the tears really started to flow. Her voice shook, and she sobbed. "I'm so sorry… Sonic… I was too weak. I couldn't save you! I… I let Eggman capture you, just so you could save me! I can't do anything right… I'm so useless…" She whispered the last part. "I'm useless, Sonic. Useless… I shouldn't stay with you anymore. I just endanger you and the people around you. I'm too weak… I-"

Amy was cut off by a pair of arms spinning her around. She found her face pressed up against someone's chest, being held tightly. She couldn't take it anymore. Burying herself into Sonic's chest, she somehow found the tears to cry. For a long while, she felt like the oasis around her was her tears, and there was not a sound as her crying, stuttering voice echoed everywhere. "I'm so sorry, Sonic. I'm so sorry…"

"Ames!" Amy was shocked by the firmness of his voice. She didn't look up, but just hid herself in his chest. "Amy… you know it's not your fault. Even if you could stop me from going to Eggman, I would've gone anyway, and you know it." His voice softened. "I don't just do this because I have to, Amy. I do this because I love you."

Amy just shook her head. "But Sonic…"

She felt her chin being gently lifted by a hand, and she found herself staring into hazy, green eyes. "Amy…" Why did he look so sad? "How do I make you understand? I can't come back to you when you're not here, can I?" He laughed a little.

Her tears didn't stop flowing, but she stared at those eyes. She could feel her heart start beating again… really beating.

"See you soon, ok Ames?"

Then, everything reappeared again all at once. Amy blinked slowly, like she hadn't moved her body in years. A faint glimmer caught her eye, and she turned slowly towards it.

In her hand, she had the green Chaos Emerald. It seemed to flare a little, like it was answering to Amy's gaze. Her mind still felt strange after not being used for so long, and to have the Chaos Emerald appear so suddenly in her hand was enough to send it reeling. 'How? How?'

The Emerald flared again, and she felt it send a clear, almost refreshing stream of energy into her. Everything within her seemed to slowly start again, like a door that hadn't been opened in a long while and the room it led to was now covered in dust. Her mind was starting to sift through things again, and it uncovered a name.

'Sonic… Sonic!'

She bolted upright, her hand still clutching the Emerald. She stared wildly about her. 'I… I have to find Sonic! And I have to save him somehow…'

Slowly standing up, she moved her limbs, though they didn't quite obey her as readily as they had in the past. Her body was still weak, but there was no time to sit down and rest. 'Hold on Sonic… hold on!'

A mountain range stretched out before him, long and endless, yet he still ran. Sonic ran tirelessly, but if felt like he would never stop. Somehow, even with all this space before him, he still felt confined, trapped, like he had nowhere to go. He didn't stop once, not for a second. There was so much freedom before him… and yet… complete and utter freedom didn't feel quite as wonderful as he had thought it would.

'Heh, no problem,' he thought to himself. 'I'll just keep running until I get out of here. These mountains have to lead somewhere… right?'

He felt his feet go even faster, and his heart felt the familiar, excited beating as he gained speed. 'Almost… almost…' His ears were laid back, his quills cutting through the air. His body was bent low as everything blurred past him.

"You can't run forever… Sonic."

Sonic stopped abruptly after hearing the voice. His heels dug into the ground as he skidded to a halt.

"Who's there?" he demanded.

He was greeted by silence.

Sonic started walking forwards, slowly now. Suddenly, he realized that the ground felt… different, somehow. Looking down, he saw that the mountain paths he had ran along were gone now. In fact, the whole mountain range was gone! Shaking his head around in slight panic, he saw that he was surrounded by darkness.

"How did I get here?" he asked aloud to himself.

More silence.

"Hey! Sonic!"

The familiar voice of a young fox reached his ears. Spinning around, he saw Tails running towards him. "Tails! What are you doing here?"

Tails seemed to completely and utterly ignore him. He trotted right up to him.

"Tails?" Tentatively, he raised a hand to place on his shoulder. "Is that really you?" Slowly, he placed his hand on his friend.

A scream, then blood.

Sonic jerked back his hand in horror. Tails was now lying down before him, his head bleeding heavily from a wound. "Tails! Tails, what's wrong?"

Then, before his very eyes, Tails shifted and changed.

"Shadow?" Sonic blinked in confusion. "Shadow, what's going on?"

Shadow didn't answer him. He just stared straight ahead, unblinking.

"Shadow?" His hands lightly brushed past his fur.

More screams, more blood.

Sonic was in a living nightmare. Speechless with horror, Sonic felt himself back away slowly, his breathing quick and shallow. Turning his body from the horrible sight of Shadow's bleeding body, he turned tail and ran.

"Sonic?" Another voice? But Sonic couldn't stop. He couldn't hurt another one of his friends, for he was sure now that it was his fault that his friends were bleeding, his fault that they were dying.

A red blur appeared directly in front of him, and Sonic couldn't stop in time. With deep dread, Sonic slowly turned around, and saw both Knuckles and Rouge, lying together on the ground, unconscious.

"No!" Another, louder voice cried out. "What have you done?" The Chaotix Team appeared out of nowhere, and started charging at him.

"Don't come close to me! Don't touch me!" Frantically, Sonic tried to run, but he was too late. Vector had barely laid a finger on him, but the trio was on the ground, piled unceremoniously on top of each other.

"No… no… no!" Sonic fell on his hands and knees. "Why is this happening?"

Though he wasn't really expecting an answer, the voice answered him again. "Because you were too weak to save them."

It was the same voice again, the voice that had haunted him for a long time. Sonic turned again, and this time… he saw that he was face to face with… himself.

Sonic backed away again, panic overtaking him. This hedgehog… he looked like him, walked like him, sounded like him… but he wasn't him… was he?

"Oh?" The other figure laughed cruelly, moving in on Sonic, each footstep matching his. "Afraid of yourself now, are you?"

Sonic shook his head frantically. "You're not me…"

The other hedgehog raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? Then how do you explain… this?"

It was like a curtain lifted up before his eyes, and a huge landscape of a stormy sky over a destroyed building appeared. But the picture was moving, and he could sense everything that was happening, touch all the objects before him, and hear the scream that filled the air.

Sonic felt his mouth move. "You die now… Cream…"

"No!" Forcefully, he was shot back out painfully from the landscape. "That's not me! I wouldn't do this!"

The other blue hedgehog appeared again, and this time, his mouth was twisted up into a smirk. "But you always thought that she was an annoying little girl who couldn't do anything, didn't you? Even more useless than Tails…"

Sonic just shook his head again, so hard that he felt for sure that it would fall off. "What have you done to them?" he shouted, not bothering to cover the desperate plea in his voice.

His mirror image disappeared, leaving behind only the voice. "I haven't done anything… it's all your fault."

Before Sonic could do anything further, before he could shout, attack, or do anything at all, a huge wave of sea-green water flooded towards him, and he was swept up by the pulling water. Gasping, choking, Sonic flailed his arms, but what good was that when he couldn't swim? Another wave, taller than the rest, swept up over him like a giant hand and forced his head underwater.

Then, there was silence… pure and complete, like the world had stood still.

With all his might, Sonic forced open his eyes, and found himself staring at the calmness of a huge, green oasis. Bubbles floated around him, and for some reason, he could breath. But that wasn't what surprised him. He sensed another presence near him.

'She's here… Amy's here!'

Not knowing how, not caring how, he swam out, just a little. The water caressed him softly, and for a second, his mind calmed.

A sound reached his ears, and they swiveled towards the sound. 'Is that… a giggle?'

Yes, it was. But it wasn't just any giggle. It floated around him, like the bubbles that surrounded him each held a note caused by that giggle. Something swirled around him, and it wasn't the water.

"Amy?"

The water around him seemed to shiver in response. He looked around, but he couldn't see her. "Amy… you're here, aren't you?"

Glittering, a single, tendril of water reached out towards him. Sonic reached out a hand, and it almost seemed to settle there. "I'm so sorry, Amy… I… I forgot…"

A wavering beam of light hit his face as the water refracted and shifted the light towards him. Sonic trembled slightly, remorse showing on his face. "Amy… you told me to come back to you, and I forgot. I don't know why, and I don't know how… but somehow… I just forgot."

He felt Amy's presence leave his hand, and felt it once again start swirling around him. "I don't deserve you, Amy. You'll get hurt if you're around me. I can't let that happen to you…"

Amy's presence shifted and changed again. This time, it wrapped itself around him like a cloak, soothing him.

Sonic held out his arms. "Amy…" Suddenly, he held them out before him, and it was like he had gathered Amy's aura in his arms. "Please… you can't stay with me. I'll hurt you… and I can't protect you from myself…"

The water glittered in his arms, and it almost seemed to darken slightly. Suddenly, he felt it move in his arms towards his face, and he could almost swear he felt something brush past his lips. Then, it slipped out from inside his arms, and seemed to tug at him, pulling him forwards. And for the first time, he heard her voice.

"You said that you would always be right here by my side," she said, her voice holding an almost innocent sweetness. "So I'll wait for you to come back to me, ok?"

Before he could even answer, the tugging came to an end. The oasis was still there, but he found that his feet were touching solid ground. Sonic looked around, and saw that he was at the bottom of the oasis, with a smooth path under his feet. Looking on, he saw that it curled up, and where it led to was lost in the great height of it.

'Amy's waiting for me,' Sonic thought, his mind now calm and clear. 'Amy's waiting for me… I have to go back to her!'

His feet started moving beneath him, and the smooth path under his feet seemed to propel him forward to his goal. 'Hold on, Amy… hold on!'

A/N: So... here you are. Over 4000 words worth of writing. Hope you had fun reading!
Anonymous Reviews:

sonicoverlord: Heh heh... I'm not sure about the "masterpiece" part, but this is my only fic, so ok, let's go with that, lol. Thnx for reading!

jacqueline: See? You were right! Sonic is in there... somewhere.Thanks forreading and reviewing!

The review that had noname whatsoever (literally):I really, really don't wanna type that all again, so please leave a name lol. I'm really glad that you're enjoying this, and I'm glad you decided to leave a review as well. Hope you'll enjoy the future chapters!

azngirlchibi