Hi.

I know what you're all thinking. Where the hell have I been?!

Well, I just wanted to say that I hope you are all doing dandy, and that unforeseen circumstances caused me to be so delayed. See, my college was suppose to give me a laptop with my scholarship. And although it's safe to say that I have it now, I didn't get it until the week of Thanksgiving. Which was when I wanted the sequel up. And maybe I could have used the school computers but it felt weird. So I waited.

And here I am.

I hope the new year has been treating everyone well. And I know what you are still thinking. Where the hell is the sequel?! I can assure you that it will be up before the end of the month. I'm half-way done with it, but comfortable enough with what I have written that I can start publishing. However, I can't promise you that I will update as quickly as I did before. But I will do my best.

For now, on this random day, I am putting up the first of the two final chapters. In other words, the revision to the original final chapter. Some of you said it was too short. Others said it sucked. I felt it sucked. And to be quite honest, I wince a little bit when I think about it. So here is my peace offering, and I hope it will be better. But if you read and enjoyed the other ending and don't feel the need to read this one, it won't change your comprehension of the sequel.

Still, I recommend that you do read them if you have time. But enough babbling.

Read. Enjoy. Eat pie.

Unless you're on a fast like me. :(

Disclaimer: I do not own SEGA or its characters. There. Did you hear me, SEGA?!

Read on, loves!

Chapter 16: Stop Trying

Meet me at my house.

Love you,

Scourge

That explained where he was.

I smiled lightly, appreciating his sweet gesture. A slightly mushy effort on his apart, but I appreciated it nevertheless. After all, he was my boyfriend. I curled a finger around my hair as I grinned dreamily like the lovestruck idiot I was. Boyfriend...

But enough of this lonely love fest. I wanted to be with him.

Folding the letter and placing it in my purse, I trotted out of the apartment with high spirits. With the sun smiling enthusiastically on me and the gentle wind of outside carrying me in its light embrace, I was on cloud nine. Hopping into my car, I couldn't explain it—I was beaming with joy. Everything had worked out.

Sonic and I were actually on friendly grounds. And I had a man.

Why shouldn't I be happy?

Sure, I may be being a bit premature with my feelings—I mean, I was practically swooning and I wasn't even with Scourge yet—and the reasonable part of me knew that a relationship didn't guarantee a fairy tale ending...But I didn't care. I was just glad that I was finally with someone I could appreciate and love. And making love was pretty nice too.

My smile intensified as I pulled out of my apartment complex, overwhelmed by these lovely feelings of love. I don't know what it was. There was just something incredibly comforting and humbling about being in a relationship with Scourge. I let out a sigh of astonishment. Being in a relationship with Scourge.

Sure, I realized that I also sounded like an over passionate teenaged girl. But this was my first relationship. It couldn't be denied that this was a pretty monumental occasion. And go ahead, say I'm delirious in the most naive sense but I was smitten. And I was smitten bad.

Maybe I didn't know what love really was. But now was my opportunity to explore it with Scourge. And I welcomed the opportunity with eager arms.

But were they too eager? I now felt myself questioning since I was apparently incapable of being on a happy mental streak without my doubt intruding. And my doubt was the worst kind.

I focused harder on my driving in an effort to rid my sudden destructive thinking. But it was no avail. Was I going to mess this up? I bit my lip, letting myself contemplate this. I mean, even though I didn't feel desperate, it was easy for me to appear desperate. And ultimately become desperate.

I pouted, tapping my foot impatiently at the red light of an intersection. Where did I get this stupid mentality? Whereas everyone else was all calm and sure of themselves, I was always misinterpreting things and being pitifully overzealous. I wanted to change.

Change? No, just keep doing what you are doing, another part of my warped brain assured me. But that was the problem. My relationship with Scourge was composed of me not doing things I would normally do. Getting drunk at a bar, giving myself to him, telling off bitches...

This was all foreign territory. And besides, how I acted before was before we were together. Well, we were, technically. But not together-together. I knew that sounded silly, but in all honesty, the time that we'd spent together for the past few days was in an iffy-casual state. This was different.

This was a kinship of love.

But not the strongest of all kinships, however, I mean this wasn't an engagement or matrimony. I gave a mental slap to my forehead. See?! Together for one day and you're already talking marriage?!

I wasn't ready for marriage. But here I was again, jumping face first into conclusions when there weren't even any conclusions in the making. It was time to just enjoy his company and just enjoy being his girlfriend. Not think about how our bond would end. Whether it was for the better or the worst.

Stop it, Amy.

I exhaled, casting away my sporadic mindset and the negative thoughts that filled it. Opening the car windows I inhaled the fresh air of my new beginning.

With Scourge.

I wasn't going to turn our positive union into a bad thing. Nope. As I pulled up into his driveway I could feel the same blissful feelings from earlier return. It was like electricity, with each step on the ash colored pavement hitting my heart, making my brain swell in excited anticipation.

So what if I couldn't control everything? I think that's why nothing else ever worked out. It was always like me pushing against a wall with the hope that it would move. But life wasn't like that. You had to do with what you had and hope that someone remarkable would come along to help you. And Mr. Remarkable was only five feet away. And finally, after years of unreciprocated love, I had nothing to worry about. And I was beyond grateful for the feeling.

I brought my hand to the door with three swift knocks. "Hey, Scourge. It's Amy! Your girlfriend!"

I scoffed playfully, beginning to get a little sick of myself. You can tone it down a little, you know?

But it was hard. Now I knew why Cream was such a giddy, passion-struck idiot all the time. Love was amazing. And it was finally nice to have my chance at it.

But it was sort of taking a while. I blinked at the door a few times before casting a few more knocks. "Hello?" No response.

Hmm? I narrowed my eyes, letting my tongue flick impatiently in my mouth. I shook my head, trying to relieve myself of the worrisome thoughts beginning to consume it. Glancing around, I observed the fading sun and the quiet stillness in the air. What if—

Don't go there! I could feel myself warning. After all, I had only been standing here for about five minutes. And even if he weren't home there were plenty of explanations as to why he wouldn't be. I mean, I didn't even know what time that note he sent me was written. He could have made it at 12 pm, 1 pm, maybe even at 2 pm. It was 6. Was I to expect that he'd stay at his house for hours just waiting for me? It certainly would have saved me from this lonely moment, but I had to be realistic.

Still, he said he'd be here. Wouldn't he have at least called first if he wouldn't be?

Not necessarily. He was a grown man and he could do what he wanted. Hell, he was doing whatever he wanted before I came into the picture. So maybe he got bored and left. Maybe he went to eat some food. Maybe he thought that the little talk I had with Sonic wouldn't take so long. Definitely. He got bored and left. See? Nothing to worry about.

Peering into the window and seeing that the room was dark, I decided my suspicions were correct. He wasn't here and I should just call him.

I dialed and placed my phone to my ear and waited. It didn't pick up. I tried to control my breathing, refusing to left my mind surge off to the worst possible scenario. Maybe it was just me being desperate as usual, but much to my disdain, something didn't feel right. And call it frantic female intuition, but I knew that I had something to worry about.

I just wished that I knew what it was.

In this fluster of doubt and anxiety I unfortunately had no option but to drive off and constantly reassure myself that everything would be fine.

I was simply overreacting and I really needed to shake off my needy mentality. After all, I had been independent all of these years. It's not like I was going to combust or something if he wasn't by my side. Even if I really, really wanted him to be.

But to be honest, I don't think I was that worried that he wasn't with me. Maybe it was just the fact that I had no idea where he was and no clue where to find him.

That sounds about right.

People just don't not answer their phones. Especially in this technological day and age. But then again, Scourge had left me this note. A sweet, but perhaps dated gesture. I then fought the urge to slap my forehead again. His phone probably died. That's why he didn't answer.

And here I was having a freak attack over nothing. God, I really needed to take a chill pill. Just relax...

But relax where? I had absolutely no desire to go home. I knew what I would do there. I'd lay in bed with my phone clutched in my hand, all woe-is-me, waiting for him to call—or even better, knock on the door.

But that wasn't happening right now.

So I was going to have to find something else to take up my time. Or maybe someone...

Of course I went to McAlister's.

Apparently Shadow didn't want to hear anymore of my relationship dealings, and I didn't want to tell Blaze about it just yet. To be quite honest, I was still a little bit irritated about what she did. Sending Sonic over to my apartment as if I wanted that...

And maybe I did. In what felt like an eternity ago.

So Scourge and I were rushed. It wasn't a problem. A relationship wasn't like baking cookies in the oven. Time varied between couple to couple. And more importantly, I liked our pace. Where was the practicality in waiting for more time? I had been waiting, but I was waiting for the wrong guy. Now that I had found the right one...

There was no reason to wait any longer.

I pulled into the driving lot but not without releasing a sigh. Then why was I still waiting? I kicked a foot out the car trying not to walk dolefully into the bar. I was happy, remember? Granted, I wasn't as happy as I could be right now—but that didn't mean that I had to come across as a sorry sight.

Especially towards Phil. Like Blaze, I didn't want to give him something to worry about. I was just here, all smiley-smiley and hand-in-hand with Scourge a couple days ago. How unsettling would that be if I showed up all sullen and troubled now?

"Hiya Amy," Phil greeted. I grinned back, almost forgetting why I was so tense in the first place.

"Hey, Phil. Ah, how are you?"

The older possum nodded slowly, before a smug, fatherly smile settled over his lips. "Better, now that you're here."

I scoffed playfully. At least someone appreciated my presence. "Why Phil, I'm flattered!" I smiled, placing a hand over my heart.

Phil put the black towel he was using to wipe the counter-top over his shoulder and fixed his gaze on me. "What can I get ya, lil lady?"

I sat down on the stool before offering a polite smile. "Oh you know, the usual."

I pouted slightly, realizing the idiocy in my words. I didn't have a usual. If anything I was unusual and would be better off leaving. But when Phil filled a glass with a rose colored liquid and slid it toward me, a simple sip assured me that perhaps he was the only person who knew me as well as I did.

"What's wrong?" he then countered, probably reading the dubious look in my eye that I thought I was doing a pretty good job at concealing. Scratch that, he knew me better than I knew myself.

I sighed with a slight heave of my shoulders, realizing that my secret was out. "Me. Over-thinking things," I replied, swirling the glass in my hands and watching the contents swirl in bliss. And I could have that too, bliss I mean. If I could just be ignorant for once. Minus the whole deluded I-wanted-to-be-in-a-relationship-with-Sonic thing. That was bad. But this was different. And even thought I felt that my eyes were open now, what use was my new perspective if I was surrounded in a fog?

Phil's eyes narrowed, which accentuated the aged, superior look in his eyes. He resumed to polishing the counter with a shake of his head. "This doesn't have anything to do with da green young gentleman you were just here with, does it? I'm sorry if it does."

I shook my hand in the air to dismiss his careful words, "Well, it's not him exactly," I started off, beginning to wonder why I came here to vent. Was there really a problem? I mean, my boyfriend wouldn't answer his phone. That was it. It was not worth going in a depression over. I had only called him once, too, now that I think about it...

But something didn't feel right. I know I said this already, but it's as they say: go with your instinct. And my gut was telling me that something was wrong. I just couldn't tell the extent. In all honestly, I didn't feel that this issue would compromise our relationship, but you couldn't know for sure. The issue could be anything from a flat tire to a flat out motor accident.

My stomach dropped. Don't go there. But I knew I couldn't stay here. I rose up from the stool before laying down a tip.

"I'm sorry, Phil but I don't know why I came here. Scourge wasn't answering his phone and I have to go find him," I informed the possum as he nodded.

"Do whateva you 'ave to do. But be safe," Phil said with a reassuring smile. "Keep calm, but remember..." he gestured for me to listen closely to him, "...there's no use lookin' for what doesn't want to be found."

My mouth twitched, not quite sure how to reply. What was Phil implying? I shook my head, refusing to let my mind rush. Perhaps he was saying that I couldn't make a relationship last even if I really wanted it too. Or maybe being desperate has been a counteractive trait of mine and I just had to keep doing what I had been doing with Scourge in order to preserve our relationship.

I preferred the latter.

Nodding, my eyes grazed against Phil's. "Okay." Walking out of the establishment I knew what I had to do.

I had to stop being hopeless.

Home was calling me. But I fought every impulse in my body from calling him. I suppose old, desperate habits died hard.

I strolled out of my car taking in the absent sun, finding that darkness was now my company. What was a bright, relieving day had now settled into a bittersweet night. Probably because I was without my knight in leather armor.

But I could go a night without a boyfriend. Couldn't I? I had been doing that all my life. I didn't know why I was fussing so much right now. Because I'm crazy.

But who was I criticizing? Scourge was twisted and I'm sure he loved me for it. I allowed a smile to break lose on my somber face. Life was good. Why ruin it by thinking about the day you die instead of enjoying a sunset? And although the sun had vanished hours ago, my soul shined bright like a diamond even though all of these dark thoughts kept trying to break inside and disrupt my peace. Even now I could feel them, trying to creep in...

I clenched my keys in my hands as I approached the door of my apartment. Apparently my thoughts weren't the only things capable of creeping. Standing and blinking to examine the entryway carefully, I noticed there was a crack. A crack of the door.

My door was open.

I could feel my heart burn from shock as my brain scrambled, trying to make sense of what was happening. I pushed the entrance further and further as my mind soared—faster and and faster. Bolting in, I stopped in place, assessing the damage as my frenzied mind remained in motion.

Tattered window treatments. Fruit bowl upside-down on the floor. My drawers opened and hijacked...

My mind didn't want to process the truth. But the truth wasn't asking for my permission. I had been robbed, yes. But that wasn't even the worst part.

I knew who it was.

Uh, oh. Who was it?

Find out tomorrow...

~Kosma B