Kyle Williams - SuperSonicSpy1, Amefloza13, Notyouraverageloser-chan, Lynkida, Lady Sonamy, Groovy Jay, IT'S NO USE I'M OUTTA USE, Blancis16: Thanks everyone!

(Btw, I've finally finished writing this story, and it's gonna be 12 chapters! So look forward to that ~ )

Chapter 9: Pressure

SONIC

(A bit before…)

Chaos zoomed all around me - people rushing about, whispering loudly, passing me by. I let them. My mind was on the events of the last few hours, and didn't have the mental energy to focus on anything else. I felt incredibly fatigued, as if gravity had someone gotten stronger just for me - and yet very alert, as if I'd just downed 5 espresso shots. I'd have to put on my best face for the cameras though, otherwise this would be for nothing.

Somewhere off in the distance I heard someone say my name. Amy. She'd made me take her home to change clothes yet again in preparation for the press conference, but I didn't complain. She looked absolutely gorgeous in her white summer dress. She'd also put on some makeup, making me want to kiss those pink lips even more. Anything, absolutely anything to distract me from what I just had to do.

"I'm so glad I got to get my anger out on that bitch, she so deserved it. That felt incredibly cathartic. I hope it was for you, too."

My head was aching too much for me to say I felt any better. If anything, I was worse. I felt like a total basket case bursting with anxiety. The past few years I'd been unstable but still functional, perhaps because I knew where Candy was, and I had an odd sort of control on the situation (despite how it was tearing me apart). Her abuse had been something I kept on the inside, locked away and never touched unless she opened it herself. I'd done my best to not to let it affect me on the outside; avoid it, run from it, never let it show.

But now that I'd shared it with a few more people, it was out there, outside of the strong box I'd sealed inside my heart, and it was bursting with pain and fear. The situation was now of my hands. And that worried me. I alone knew what Candy was capable of - she was extremely manipulative. Rouge and Knuckles are as tough as they come, but then again… so was I, before I met her.

Now I was much less of a man, much less of everything. She'd ruined me forever. Every second that passed filled me with more and more regret and second guesses about how I'd handled this. But what options did I have? I couldn't just kill her, despite Amy (jokingly?) offering to do it for me. I couldn't try to imprison her myself, because one she was my weakness, and two I knew she was resourceful - she had a ton of backup copies of the videos likely stored in the Cloud. I didn't particularly like going through the law, but it felt like the best option because I couldn't handle her myself. All we had to do was keep it relatively quiet. Knuckles and Rouge better come through for me.

"Sonic?" Amy prompted me, and I forgot we were having a conversation for a moment. It was getting hard to focus.

I shook my head, trying to clear it. "I'm glad it was good for you… jury's still out on me. Hopefully after we do this last thing, we can finally move on with our lives and get married."

I felt a sudden pressure on my hands - oh, they were tied up! How had this happened? I couldn't move them - I cried out and pulled away, suddenly breathing quickly, my heartbeat rapid. I blinked a few times, and the vision faded, leaving nothing but a confused pink hedgehog in front of me.

"Sorry, I just wanted to hold your hand," she said softly, looking down.

I exhaled - but that didn't help any. It had felt so real...

"It's alright, I'm just a bit jumpy right now."

Amy nodded. I could tell she wanted to hug me, but kept her distance. "She's gone, Sonic. You're free."

"Almost gone," I reminded her with a sigh, my head still aching. "And I dunno about me being free. I'm not gonna be okay for a while, still. I've kinda come to terms that I'll never be the old me anymore."

"That's okay. I'll help you. I promise."

Her need for contact was overwhelming my senses, and I wanted to touch her too. But would it hurt this time? I stared into her eyes, feeling like an absolute failure. How could I have let this happen to myself? I saw how small Candy really was, I could have torn her to pieces without even thinking. I could have just ran. It was all my fault. I deserved these feelings. And Amy deserved so much better. I'd call off the wedding so she wouldn't make the big mistake of being trapped spending the rest of her life with me.

I saw Amy reaching for my face, and I closed my eyes and winced, wanting and yet dreading the contact. Her fingertips grazed my muzzle, and then my lips, and it felt like heaven. I unveiled my eyes to enjoy her kind smile.

"I love you." Her words warmed my heart, and calmed me slightly. I felt my eyes welling up with tears that I couldn't hold back.

That's when we were suddenly prompted to the podium.

No, no, no, I couldn't do this now, I wasn't ready, I couldn't… I panicked and started jumping up and down - and then Amy threw her arms around my shoulders and gently put her lips against mine. She pushed me down a bit, trying to hide my obvious anxiety from all the stares. A single tear dripped down my face, but she gracefully leaned over and caught it.

"Mr. Hedgehog and Ms. Rose, they're all waiting for you."

I continued kissing Amy, suddenly not caring if they had to wait for me. Our whole objective was to buy time, right? So I could kiss her as long as I wanted to -

Lots of cleared throats and loud whispers later, I finally broke our kiss, took Amy's hand, and led her out. As we appeared, the amount of cameras and media personalities shocked me, and nearly gave me a cardiac arrest. But with Amy holding my hand, I knew I could do this. I wasn't about to be intimidated. I'd already faced my worst nightmare today, I could handle some annoying jerks with cameras.

"First of all, I just wanna say - I'm only here because I wanna be, not because any of you caught me, okay?" I quipped as I sat down.

Laughter. I smirked. Maybe I was okay at this sorta thing. Time to let my persona shine.

"So let's get that straight - now, what I came here to say. Yesterday I might have let slip that Amy and I are dating, well, now we'd like to announce something special." I turned to my lovely girl, and she just beamed.

"Sonic and I are getting married!"

She may have stole my thunder a bit, but I didn't mind at all. This was her moment too - hers more than mine, really. So many pictures were taken, and Amy showed off her ring. We were soon bombarded with question after question about if I'd been seeing her the whole time, and when I'd proposed, if we'd set a date yet, and more. Amy handled all of them with grace and excitement, and I just watched her with pride. I'd made the right decision in proposing.

Then came the question that ruined it all.

"This is all well and good Sonic, and congrats on your nuptials. But where have you been for the last decade?"

The energy had been sucked out of the room. I shook off the anxiety crawling inside me.

"Around." I shrugged. Play it cool, play it cool, play it cool...

Amy gripped my hand under the table, and shot me a worried glance.

"I'm afraid that's not going to be good enough, Sonic. You said you were ready to talk. You are one of the most powerful beings on this planet. It is part of my agency's new initiative to start keeping track of those like you."

I leaned forward, my eyes narrowed. What was he insinuating? "What? Why's that? I'm a private citizen, yeah? If any random person disappeared for ten years and then came back would you care?"

"As a matter of fact, we would. But let's be clear: you're hardly a random individual. You can run twice as fast as the speed of sound - "

I held up my hand. I had to preserve what little was left of my ego and reputation. "Whoa, whoa now. Pretty sure I can run much faster than twice the speed of sound, now c'mon."

Amy shot me a dirty look. "Not helping your case," she hissed at me.

I leaned back in the chair, crossing my arms. "So, did something happen that you think is my fault? I've been away, so sorry I'm not caught up on the news. Seems all I hear nowadays is about me. Slow times, huh?" Sarcasm. Works every time.

"It's not that we're directly accusing you, Sonic. It's just that you've been sighted throughout the years, with unconfirmed reports, some of them near known crime scenes. And with your speed, literally any unsolved crime could be perpetuated by you and we wouldn't know."

I shook my head. "Nah man. That's hardly fair to pin that all on me. I've saved the world how many times and now this? I get treated as a villain? I've always been a force for good."

"How can we trust that, when you haven't been in the public eye for so long? Everyone is asking for accountability. We need to finish and file this missing person report. With all the correct information."

My legs started bouncing uncontrollably, and Amy put her hand on my knee to try and calm me - but it had the opposite effect. I brushed her hand away, gulping down some nausea. I knew she was only trying to help and felt kinda bad, but I was starting to feel like this was all a huge mistake.

"I didn't come here to be lectured by a bunch of suits. I've always lived like this and no one had a problem with it before. I'm not about to change. Next question."

"Then what can you tell us Sonic?"

"I've been on a journey of self discovery. I traveled a lot. I found out new stuff about myself. Including that I love Amy, which is why we're here in the first place. I don't get what the big deal is."

Where were Knuckles and Rouge? I couldn't wrap this up until I saw them in the crowd, that's what they said. Maybe... maybe I could just tell them all. Up front. That way if it still got in the news, at least I got to get in front of it and share things on my own terms. Part of me wanted to tell them everything - that someone as strong and unstoppable as I was could still be a victim. I hated that word, but it was true, I'd realized. I'd worked this afternoon to put away a rapist, my rapist. Words I'd never dreamed of uttering in the past. But it was possible, because it happened even to me.

No, I couldn't do this. Candy's sadistic smile suddenly came into my mind's eye, and made my world spin until Amy pulled me back by caressing my knuckles. I had to chicken out. I wasn't strong enough yet to share all of my story. Maybe I never would be.

"Sonic, we've just heard from a few sources that your two friends, the G.U.N. agents Knuckles and Rouge, have made an arrest. Do you have a comment on this?"

Shit, fuck, dammit to the depths of hell -

I just shrugged. "Hell if I know. I mean, now that I am back, I'm sure they're working on other stuff now. My case is closed, right? So you'll have to ask them about it."

"Your case is hardly closed."

"Well I'm back now, so there. What would you guys know about closed cases anyway?" I said. "Back in the day, I was pretty much the only one who was fighting and defeating Dr. - " I was cut off by Amy squeezing my hand and shaking her head ferociously.

I leaned in and mouthed. "What?"

She whispered in my ear. "Don't talk about Eggman. He works for G.U.N. now."

"What?!" I yelled.

"Shush. He's their weapons and technology consultant. Just don't mention him, if you remind everyone of how much you used to fight that won't look good either. He's kinda… celebrated now, but is also super controversial."

"You've gotta be kidding me, Ames. He works for the government? Did everyone suddenly forget how he used to constantly try and take over the world?"

"He stopped doing that once you left. He's reformed, of course - but with you gone, he got bored, and him joining G.U.N. is his new way of taking over the world, I guess. Although he's pretty high up in the search for you, and no one really trusts him." She rolled her eyes. "Just, stop, and talk about literally anything else. Politics is not a good idea."

"Well," I cleared my throat and relaxed a bit, trying to calibrate myself to this bizarre timeline. My dizziness was getting even worse, and it was hard to focus on any one face in the crowd. "My future wife is telling me to change the subject. So, here goes. This isn't something I planned to talk about it, but fuck it."

I stared at the crowd, and just let the words come out like I was talking about the weather.

"I'm asexual."

There wasn't a huge response, other than some weird looks. It was kinda funny to think I'd been anxious to finally share this, but it wasn't a huge deal as I'd made it out to be in my mind. Why care what they thought anyway?

"And you're still getting married? How does that work?"

"Yeah. That has nothing to do with whether or not I love Amy, I'm very much romantically and visually attracted to her - she's a gorgeous woman inside and out, and I love her."

Amy put her arms around me, and I leaned into her, planting a kiss on her cheek. I realized that now was the perfect time to share some thoughts I'd been having about my identity. A distraction from the whole 'where you been' would be a good idea anyway.

"Ya know, for the longest time, and this is part of why I was gone, I thought I was incapable of love. I thought there was somethin' wrong with me, and I was broken for not liking either girls or guys like most do. Hell, I even went to get my hormones checked, and I finally checked back with the doc. And he said I was perfectly normal. Because I am. I realized somewhere along the way, that I'm not broken, just different. And I can still love, and my love is not any less because there's no element of sexy stuff in it. And, not getting too mushy or anything, but just wanted to let everyone know.

"Because I realized that some people may be confused if they don't feel sexual attraction either. And while maybe I'm not a role model anymore I thought if there were others out there, like me, who were confused about this, maybe it'll give them confidence to come out, too. There aren't that many aces out there, so I don't mind being one of the first."

The vibe in the air changed, and I could see some smile's on people's face. There - I'd shared it. It felt like no big deal, and yet a huge deal at the same time. I was glad I'd gotten to get this out, at least. Amy was beaming back at me, so proud of me for sharing my feelings for once, and I smiled back, feeling accepted. Things were gonna be okay, right?

And then - it all came crashing down again.

"We just got word of a new report about the arrest your G.U.N. friends made. A young female, arrested for indecent acts with minors. The woman claims she knows you personally, and has information on where you've been for the past 10 years. What do you know about this, Sonic?"

I froze. This wasn't happening. No, no, no, no, not this, anything but this, anything but to have everyone's eyes on me, judging me, knowing what I'd submitted myself to for years and years. She would share the videos, or they'd be leaked, and everyone would know my pain my struggle my weakness my torture. It was too much. I had to run away, right now - The whole world was spinning around me, and I was standing still. Or maybe, maybe, I was moving and they were all still. I couldn't tell. My senses were on high alert, but I couldn't move, couldn't breathe, I desperately gasped trying to fill my lungs but I was sure they were empty, my heart rate was spiking, my face was going numb, I started dry heaving and coughing as acid poured from my lips - I was dying. This was it, I was dying -

My world faded to black.

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Muffled voices. I couldn't move, my head ached, but I could hear them, faintly… I couldn't focus on the words… everything was still so dark and cloudy, like my mind was trapped in a fog….

"...Multiple open wounds and second degree burns on his back and shoulders that haven't been allowed to properly heal, some infected, very high blood pressure despite being unconscious, three broken ribs, deep bruises on his neck and arms and legs, muscle fatigue… the list goes on. To say he's in bad shape is an understatement. His personal physician says he also has a host of psychological problems that haven't been properly diagnosed or dealt with in a healthy manner. He has the ability to run extremely fast, that's an understatement, really, and he's used that ability as a defense mechanism for his psychological issues.

"All of his suppressed feelings and trauma have resulted in cases of loss of control of his lower limbs in the past, causing near starvation, fatigue, and feelings of isolation. It would appear all that repressed trauma has finally come to a head, causing a panic attack - but with his body in such a weakened state, it simply shut down to preserve itself and save energy. He is an exceptionally strong individual, but it seems he's reached his breaking point.

"Honestly it's a miracle he's been able to live as he did for this long - but he's used up nearly all that strength. He's going to need a lot of help going forward. Sonic is a fiercely independent individual, has always done everything himself, held all this in, for years, with little to no outlets. Needless to say, that hasn't been healthy for him. Now all of that is finally coming out, and he can no longer use his speed as a defense mechanism. The hardest part for him will be accepting he's as not as strong as he used to be and doesn't have to do things on his own."

I couldn't understand the words, but they sounded grave, important. Everything was still so dark and cloudy… couldn't think, couldn't focus...

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Light. I gasped as if I had just come up from underwater. Where was I, what happened, ohmygod, where was Candy, where was Amy, was I dead -

I jumped up, panting and panting, taking in my surroundings - white, machines, no windows - hospital, I was in bed, attached to a machine - beep beep beep - beepbeepbeepbeep -

A voice, soft, high, light, gentle. A tug on my hand.

"Hey, hey, hey, it's okay! It's okay, it's okay, it's okay. I'm here, Sonic. Salm down, it's gonna be okay. There, there, just lie back down. You're safe, you're fine."

I tried to breathe deep but my lungs refused to be filled. My legs were bouncing out of control again. I clenched my fists, trying to control my breathing, when I realized there was another hand in mine. I traced the arm up to a really pretty face and stared into her lovely green eyes with a hollow expression. Tears were falling out of my eyes by the gallon but I couldn't remove my gaze from her. I tried to move my lips to say her name, but all I could do was cough instead. I gripped at my heaving chest as I felt the nausea rise again to my throat, burning my esophagus and causing more violent coughing. I leaned to the side of the bed, willing myself to just empty my stomach but only a pitiful but painful spew of acidic liquid came out. My mouth and throat felt like they were eating themselves.

"It's okay… it's okay… I'm here, I love you…"

I gasped, spitting out the remains in my mouth before collapsing onto my back, still panting something fierce. Slowly, slowly I could feel my face again, and my head stopped pounding, and I regained the sense of my surroundings. I felt a tender touch on my arm again and looked back to the pink hedgehog on my left. I sniffed as she gently reached for my cheeks, wiping away the tears.

"Sonic."

"Amy." I managed to choke out. "Don't leave me."

"I won't. I'm staying right here with you. I'm not going anywhere."

I couldn't take my eyes off of her. She was the most beautiful being on Earth.

"What happened to me…?" I asked with a raspy voice, my mouth still on fire.

"You passed out. They think you had a panic attack, and your body just shut down. We brought you to the hospital."

"We?" I looked around in a sudden panic, but Amy gently pushed my head back down.

"It's just me and you here. You're safe."

I resisted her pressure on me, not wanting to be held down. I had to get out of here, I had to be free, I didn't want to lie down in a bed with someone over me - it always hurt when that happened - I pulled at the wires poking into my skin, wincing as they hurt… pain, blood - Amy grabbed at my hands but I pushed her away.

"No, Sonic, stop, you have to stay here for a little bit."

"I have to go - " My mind was racing, and I felt the four walls around me suddenly pushing in, threatening to crush me. I leaped off the bed and bounced from wall to wall, trying to push them back, but I couldn't breathe, and my muscles were aching . I wanted to spindash right through the walls but I felt a huge resistance. Weakness. My body was resisting to moving as fast as my mind commanded it to, as if it were lagging behind.

"Sonic, stop! Stop! You can't - "

I crashed to the floor, a mess of sweat and perpetually out of breath. I couldn't do it, I couldn't go fast enough. "What's wrong with me -" I panted, but Amy just leaned down to lift me up, helping me get back in bed. I used my arms to help as much as I could, but I felt like dead weight.

Amy didn't say anything at first, but she just kept looking at me with pity and worry, and I couldn't take it. I repeated my question.

"What's wrong with me, Amy?" I asked in a low voice.

She rubbed my arms up and down. "The doctor's said all that you went through has finally caught up with you, and your body is exhausted. You've been holding back your feelings and trauma and you've finally had enough. If you keep using your speed as a defense mechanism to fight this, it's just going to hurt you more - You have to stay here, rest, and heal to get your strength and speed back."

The thought terrified me. "Did he say how long?"

"You're going to have to be patient with yourself."

"I can't, I can't, I can't do that, I can't just stay in bed and stare at the ceiling and the walls… they're moving again…" The room was spinning and I shut my eyes tight, overwhelmed.

"I'll be here with you. I haven't left your side yet, and I won't."

Her voice brought me back, but only a little bit. Had she been next to me the whole time? I risked opening an eye at her. "How long have I been out?"

She smiled a little. "Nine hours."

"Hmph," I grunted, unamused, and turned to my side, hugging my pillow.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I'm going crazy," I admitted. "My mind is going so fast and yet everything is so slow. Does this mean I can't run for a while?"

Amy smiled at me with sympathy. "No. Your doctors are working on another way for you to process the trauma."

Just then the door opened and I tensed up, expecting the worst to walk through. Amy just kept stroking my arm, and I breathed a sigh of relief as it was only Tails, Knuckles, Rouge, and Shadow. Tails immediately came to my side and hugged me around the shoulders, his expression terribly worried. I pushed him away, not wanting to feel constricted in the slightest. He backed up with a hurt expression. I kept staring at the door, as if it would open at any moment with my worst nightmare.

"Candy?!"

Knuckles spoke. "We still got her. Don't worry, she's not leaving her cell anytime soon."

"You're safe," Rouge reassured.

"Who's Candy?" I heard Tails whisper, and in the corner of my eye Amy shook her head violently. Damn - I really wish he hadn't found about it this way. Guilt overtook my heart. Everything had just happened so fast, even for me. I'd just wanted to handle this all on my own terms, but it had ended in an obvious disaster.

"What are they saying about me?" I muttered, not really wanting to know.

"Don't worry about that, Sonic. We'll handle it." Rouge said.

"Like you handled everything else so well…" I grumbled.

Everyone knew - of course the bitch had opened her mouth and talked about me as soon as she woke up! I should have known. My reputation was shattered, and I was done for. No one would look at me the same now. Even my best friend, the one who had always looked up to me and considered me his role model, knew how terrible of a person I was, and the awful things I'd subjected myself to for years. They now knew I was weak, and that somehow I must have enjoyed all that happened to me, otherwise I would have left - The heart rate monitor that I was connected to started beeping at an alarming rate. I could hear them all now - what a fraud, how could he be asexual if he slept with a girl over and over again in such a humiliating fashion… I was less than everything and everyone else, and just deserved to die.

All.

My.

Fault.

Amy spoke again. "Sonic, I'm here. I'll protect you. She can't get to you anymore."

I lay motionless on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "This was all such a mistake - I never should have gone after her, or had that stupid press thing. I thought I was strong again, after hanging out with Tails I really felt like the old me, and that I could just leave everything in my past, I thought now that me and Amy were engaged, I could handle it, but I couldn't - I'm so weak and pathetic and pitiful - "

"I would have brought her in for you."

Shadow. I raised my eyes to the black and red hedgehog. Those were the first words he'd spoken to me in years and years.

"No, it had to be me. Don't you think I feel humiliated enough that I couldn't do this before? I had to break it off with her and confront my fears. I wasn't strong enough to do this myself so I took Ames with me as a backup. But I didn't think things through and what would happen after that, what she'd do..." The back of my head was suddenly pounding with pain. "I guess I pushed myself too far…"

"I would have gone with you as well," Shadow continued.

I glared at him, disgusted at how he was trying to play the good guy, when he'd never even tried to help before. He was the only one who could attempt to keep up with me, and he'd ignored me for years. Typical Shadow.

"No, you would have made a scene. I had to do this myself. I already feel super emasculated and humiliated and ashamed, and I thought, maybe, just maybe, I could get some of my dignity back if I went and confronted her and put her away myself. But nope. " I turned to Rouge and Knuckles. "You said you'd handle this and keep it lowkey."

"We tried. Honestly," Knuckles said.

"We did all we could," Rouge agreed. "But we couldn't stop her from speaking to a lawyer. As soon as the prosecutor came in, she said she wanted a deal, because she had knowledge that everyone wanted - where you've been the past 10 years. She dropped your name. There's nothing we could have done, Sonic. It just so happened that the press conference put you in the spotlight as soon as the media got word - and that's my fault. I really thought we could distract them, but it just made it worse. I'm so sorry."

I just shook my head. I couldn't be mad at her.

"Sonic, you know, any of us would have gone instead of you to bring her in," Knuckles said, " I don't think I overspeak when I say we all would have gone, together."

"You don't understand, you're not listening, this is all my fault, and I had to fix it on my own…" I trailed off, still feeling guilty and ashamed. The last thing I would have wanted was every single one of my friends to see me as I was around her. It would have been humiliating. Rouge was right, though - nothing would have stopped Candy from talking about me. Nothing. I never should have gone to confront her - but if I hadn't and someone else did, she probably would have leaked the videos anyway. If we'd just left her alone, Amy and I would still be wondering if or when she'd strike. There was just no good way to do this ….

And then Shadow spoke up. "I would have arrested her myself, on my own. I am a G.U.N. agent, but everyone knows I had no interest in trying to find you. Me arresting someone wouldn't have drawn any suspicion or attention to you, and we could have dismissed her claims about you as delusional with no press around. There was an obvious solution all along, if you'd just taken the time to think about it. But you just had to be the hero and do it all yourself."

My blood was suddenly boiling, but Amy snapped at him for me. "Shut the fuck up Shadow, will you cut him some slack? You're not helping!"

"All I want to do is help. But you have to realize, Sonic, that you can't do everything yourself anymore. Your days of independence are over. All those times you willed yourself to never give up has caused you to finally do so. What happened to you was certainly not your fault, but you could have handled it better."

I tried to jump up and get in his face and challenge that I'd still take him any day, but all I could manage was a pathetic little hop. I'd never felt so powerless in my life.

"Thanks captain hindsight, way to blame the victim. What do you even know about handling stuff well?" I growled. The sound of his voice was seriously getting under my skin.

"Guys, let's give him some space," Rouge said.

"Yeah, let's go. Shadow?" Knuckles said, and then the three of them left.

I turned to my brother, who'd been silent this whole time. "Tails I'm sorry you had to find out like this - "

He held up a hand. "You don't have to apologize. And you don't have to tell me anything. But if you need anything, any help, just let me know and I'll be here for you."

He clasped my hand, and my heart warmed. He was such a good friend, I totally didn't deserve him.

I managed a small smile. "Thanks for being my little bro."

"Always." He stood up and levitated into the air.

"Where you going?" I stared at him with wide eyes.

Tails hovered in the air using his namesakes. "To pick up Cream. She wants to see you."

I nodded, as I'd like that too. "Okay."

"Amy - take care of him," Tails said to her.

"You know I will," she nodded as the fox left the room.

Now it was just me and her. I leaned back on the bed, just now realizing she hadn't let go of my arm the whole time. Probably why it was the only part of my body that wasn't tense. I just stared into her beautiful green eyes, slowly feeling myself calm down at being near her. We didn't share words, as they weren't needed. He expression didn't change the whole time, gentle and kind as we breathed the same air.

I let my mind wander as I relaxed with Amy, trying to acclimate myself to this new reality I was living in. Maybe I didn't quite have my old life back (far from it), but it was much better than what it had been only a few days ago. Maybe I'd be stuck in the hospital for a few days, but at least I was finally going to start healing. Things were different outside of me, too: Rouge and Knuckles married, Tails an engineer and dating Cream, Candy was going to be locked up instead of locking me up, Eggman was with G.U.N., Shadow was the same old Shadow, and Amy …?

As she gently caressed my arms and shoulders, I couldn't help but notice the new shiny ring on her finger. It really hit me then, and I broke the silence.

"Do you still wanna marry me?"

She leaned in close to kiss my cheek. "Yes. I do."

"Good. That's all I care about right now." I breathed a sigh of relief and let myself relax, my mind on the only thing that really mattered.

... Amy was going to be my wife.