Skylar walked out of the building and immediately saw Robby waiting for her, arms crossed. She gave him a huge grin, ignoring the slight pain she felt on her arms, but Robby was smarter than that. He was able to see right through the fake smile, and he knew that something was wrong. But Skylar kept smiling anyways, hoping to deceive him, even though she never could.

"Hi! Wonderful weather today. Wow, today's lunch was just ridiculous, am I ri-"

"What's wrong?" Robby cut off her rambling. Skylar closed her lips tight and shook her head.

"Nothing."

"Don't you dare lie to me, Sky." A lump caught in her throat at the sound of his scolding. Robby's eyebrows shot up, and he sighed lowly. "Just tell me what happened."

Skylar closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, and dropped her almost empty backpack to the floor. She shrugged off her thin black jacket, exposing pale arms with light red scrapes decorating her arms. She had a few bruises; her arms felt sore all over. Her sides felt a bit sore as well, but her arms took most of the damage. She quickly pulled her jacket back on, grabbed her backpack, and sped forward, Robby rushing after her.

"Who did this? Was it those girls?"

"Yeah. Just forget it, though. It's whatever."

"No, it isn't whatever," Robby snapped back as they got to their house. He opened the door, glad that their parents weren't home, and lead Skylar upstairs. After retrieving a pack of cotton balls and a small jar of alcohol, he sat Skylar down on her plain red bed, making her take off her jacket.

"Did they do this during your gym class?"

"Yeah. They started slamming me against the brick wall like some sort of rag doll," Skylar replied, scrunching her nose in disgust of the group of girls. They could never leave her alone.

"I'm sorry," Robby mumbled. He didn't trust himself to speak. In his head, a few angry words swirled around, and he wanted to call those girls all of them. Rage clenched his jaw.

He always got like this when they hurt his little sister.

Skylar stared up at her brother. His green eyes were hiding behind floppy dirty-blonde hair. His skin was pale, not as pale as hers, and his lips were now a thin pink line. She could tell he was angry; his agitation was practically radiating around the room. His jaw was set, that vein on his neck popped out, and he didn't know what to say. Well, he did, but the words would be angry and he wouldn't know if he could stop himself from causing chaos. She'd seen him punch a hole in the wall from how angry he was at his dad. He never wanted her to see him like that, and neither did she.

"Well, you can't protect me all of the time..." Skylar trailed off, hoping to calm Robby down. But the fact only angered Robby a bit more. He wanted to protect Skylar at all costs, and seeing her like this made him think he wasn't doing a very good job of it.

"I wish I could, Sky," Robby mumbled, looking up at her odd red eyes. "I honestly do..."

- . . . -

Skylar jolted awake, something suddenly having shocked her. She looked up at the stars and branches with wide eyes, and she realized the scene was only just a dream. But it felt more than that. The memory of the dream was slowly starting to slip away from her with every blink, but she held on to it. She was sure it meant something.

"Wah... what's... what's wrong?" Sonic asked groggily. Something had pushed him awake, as if he had somehow known Skylar was awake. His tired eyes examined her; she seemed worried. "Skylar?"

"Huh? N-Nothing... It's just..." She hugged her knees to her chest, staring forward at the purple brick wall of the dungeon-mansion. She didn't know whether the dream meant something. It felt real, and she had been there. She had been human. But, what if it was all just, well, a dream, and it wasn't of importance at all. The thought of Robby and her human-self kept scratching the back of her head, and she knew she wouldn't be able to stop thinking about it. It would drive her nuts if she didn't tell Sonic. She breathed in, facing Sonic.

"I had this dream where I was human. I was walking out of school to meet a boy named Robby, and I guess I got bullied. The boy, I think he was my brother; he got really mad about it all... Do you think this dream was... a memory?" Skylar asked slowly, trying to make sense of it all as she spoke. Sonic looked at her, examining the pensive look on her face, and how her eyebrows furrowed together and how she chewed her lip softly. He smiled. She looked cute.

"Well?"

"Huh? Oh... well, did it feel like a dream?" Sonic asked, stretching out his legs.

"Not... not really."

"There you go."

"But it was so weird! Watching myself go through that. If I had been in the situation now, I would have acted differently. I would have beaten those girls to a pulp! But there, I was... quiet and silently miserable." She looked up at the sky, its dark blue color only interrupted by twinkling stars and the branches from the tree they were under. The memory might not have been the best, but it was something. Thinking about how weak she was, she realized that being there changed her. Maybe that was why she was there, in South Island. To strengthen not only body, but her character as well.

"Hey."

"Hm?" Sonic's eyes fluttered open again.

"Thanks."

"Uh, for?"

"Thanks for helping me out here. I mean, in that dream, I was a weak girl, and when I first got here, I was pretty scared and weak. I probably wouldn't have broken out of my shell if it wasn't for you."

"I just didn't want Eggman getting you," Sonic mumbled, trying to hide the heat on his face from her grateful words. She only grinned.

"Yeah, but you pushed me out of hiding behind a wall somehow. Maybe it was how straightforward you were. I don't know, but when I get back home... No one will bully me," Skylar said with confidence, lying down on her back and stretching out her arms. She grabbed one of the dry branches, pulling it gently then letting it swing back.

Sonic frowned. The thought of Skylar going back home wasn't all that pleasant anymore. He wanted her to be happy, and it seemed like she wanted to go back home, but then he wouldn't see her anymore. How could he bear with that? The selfish thought made his frown deepen. He'd rather her happy at home, than miserable at his side.

He couldn't contain the thought, and spat out, "I kind of don't want you to go home."

"It is nice here," Skylar mumbled. She was sure there was no checkered soil at home, and the stars certainly didn't shine as brightly as they did on South Island. Plus, going back home meant she was leaving behind some very important people. Sonic, Tails, and Amy. The thought of leaving them saddened her. How would she be able to leave behind Tails's friendliness, Amy's boldness, and most importantly, Sonic. "I'll miss you guys for sure."

"I'll miss you too," Sonic mumbled lowly. He knew that, from that point on, as they collected the Chaos Emeralds and got closer to Skylar's departure, he would only grow sadder.

"Sonic? Sonic the hedgehog is going to miss me?" Skylar asked mockingly, smirking. Sonic smiled back, laughing lightly. "I am so honored!"

"Shut it," Sonic laughed, slapping her on the arm.

"Don't you touch me," Skylar teased, ruffling his quills. Sonic rolled his eyes at her.

"You are something, Skylar," Sonic said, grinning. Skylar grinned back, hoping the heat on her cheeks didn't show. It was the way that he said those words that made her face flare up.

"And you're something else, Sonic."

Nara: Wow school really took it's toll on me D: Ugh these last few weeks have been filled with me trying to pick my grades up and finish all the assignments I'd been given . Finally, I had enough time to write this short thing out~

Thanks for reading, please review, I hope you like it n_n