Promises ReMastered:

Epilogue:

Two Years Later...

Gentle waves crashed along the sandy shore where four figures rested languidly on a set of lawn chairs. The four were of course Sally, Knuckles, Julie-Su, and Sonic in that order, from left to right. Sonic and Julie's hands were clasped together as they stared at the horizon, which was a magnificent hue of orange, gold, and pale yellow. Beside them, Knuckles and Sally sat reclined. Knuckles had his hands folded behind his head and Sally appeared nearly half-asleep. Knuckles sighed contently and spoke up. "I gotta say, this is pretty nice. With Eggman behind bars, Mobius has been pretty peaceful."

Sonic and Julie nodded lazily.

"By the way, Sonic, you really did a number on his doomsday device! Not bad for a blue pincushion," continued Knuckles with a grin and small laugh. The echidna reached over and received a high-five from his frienemy.

"Right back at ya, knucklehead," replied Sonic. He paused. "Although..." he began slowly and Julie groaned, knowing what the hedgehog was about to complain about, "it's been kinda boring without him."

"Oh, Sonic. It had to end sooner or later," Julie reminded him gently.

"I know. But still... we'll never have the same kind of fun we did when we had to fight for our lives."

"That's true," agreed Knuckles.

Julie ribbed the other echidna. "Don't encourage him."

"Just saying what everybody's thinking," replied Knuckles.

Silence fell around the four once more for a few moments.

"So..." began Knuckles again, a little bit more slowly.

Neither Julie nor Sonic spoke, the two just turned their gaze towards him.

"What happens now? I mean, to us? I guess I'll go back to guarding the Master Emerald again and Sal will assume control of the throne, but what about you guys? And Tails? Amy?"

Sonic shrugged. "We'll find out soon enough. Why?"

Knuckles sat upright and swung his legs off of the chair. "Well, I've been thinking," he began.

Sonic chuckled. "Don't try too hard, Knux. You might hurt yourself."

Knuckles scowled at Sonic. "I'm serious. Look, the last two years has been pretty good to us and our... um, well... love triangle thing we've got going on... but, I feel like sooner or later, it gotta end."

"Why would it?" asked Julie.

"The people are going to want a king, right? And to do that, someone's gotta marry Sal."

"Sounds to me like you don't want to do that," commented Sonic.

Knuckles looked conflicted. "No, it's not that. I would," he glanced at Sally, who had finally fell asleep. The chipmunk princess had been working quite hard lately in the aftermath of Eggman's final defeat following the Death Egg incident. "But, I've also got duties to the Emerald. Which implies Sonic would be the next in line."

"No thank you!" Sonic immediately responded. "I don't mind marrying Sal, but being a stuffy bureaucrat isn't really my thing."

"And what does it matter who Sal ends up marrying anyways?" asked Julie, "Marriage is just a concept used to excuse two people that hate each other to be entitled to each other's things."

"Negative much?" asked Sonic.

Knuckles shrugged and laid back down. "I don't know. It just seems like its inevitable." He scoffed. "And all this time, we thought we were avoiding to choose. But all we did was postpone it."

"Knuckles," Julie took his hand, "none of us has to choose. That's the beauty of freedom of choice. We also have the choice to not choose. Besides, we'll figure it out. We always have."

Knuckles relaxed a bit. "Hmm, maybe. Sonic's right. We'll just have to wait and see."

Silence returned to the area for another minute or so before Sonic spoke up once again. "Ya know... Tails and Amy apparently have agreed to go on a date."

Knuckles looked surprised. "Really? Well, good for them."

"Yeah, who would've guessed they'd hit it off like that?"

Sonic grinned. "I did. I set it up too. The trick was just to get them in the same room together for more than ten minutes. Plus, they've really matured over the last two years."

"Know if only we could get you to do the same, Sonic," commented Knuckles. He shivered as cold ocean breeze swept over them. "It's getting kinda cold. How about we head inside?"

Sonic jumped up. "About time. I got a couple ideas on what we could do do to warm up too."

Julie stood up and took Sonic's offered limb as the two headed off to a the beach cabin they had rented for the weekend. Knuckles himself sat up and elbowed Sally gently.

"Huh? Wha-?" asked Sally as she was startled awake.

"C'mon, we're heading inside."

"Oh. Yeah, I'm coming," said Sally groggily, unsteadily getting out of the chair. She had a little trouble standing still as her legs didn't want to agree with the rest of her body.

"Mind if I carry you?" asked Knuckles.

Sally shook her head gently. "No. In fact, I'd appreciate it."

With that, the echidna lifted the chipmunk up and cradled her in his arms. Sally placed her limbs around his neck and shoulders. "Thanks, Knux."

"No problem, Sal," he replied as he began to follow Sonic and Julie.

Sally nestled her head in his chest. Her words were a softly whispered group, "I love you, Red."

Knuckles smiled. "I love you too, Princess."

The End

Author's Note: Kinda anti-climatic, am I right? Oh well, this story needed to be finished and now it is. I don't really have all that much to say, so I'm just gonna ask to listen to what you have to say. Oh, and I'll even add a little sneak preview of Age of Mobius, which is coming out soon. It's only part of the first chapter and needs a little work, so it may change when I actually release the said chapter. Irregardless, here it is:

Sneak Preview of AoM: Season One: Episode One: A Quest for Adventure:

...

"And this is the Frozen Dragon," stated Sonic as he and Amy stopped in front of a small wooden building near the city entrance that lead to the guild's base. "Most of our guildmembers hang out here to spend their money on food and drink. You can also hear stories told by some of our more decorated members or mingle with commonfolk. More rarely, you can pick up additional jobs outside the guild board, however you still have to report any and all rewards you get from the bounty."

Amy nodded slowly, gradually taking in all this information. Meanwhile, Sonic looked confident and placed a mailed hand on the wooden door. "Shall we?" he asked, jerking his head gently in the direction of the bar. Amy nodded again, although somewhat nervously. The guildmembers she had already met were intimidating enough and that was just back at the base, who knew what kind of people she would meet in seedy-looking tavern like this one. However, she swallowed her reluctance and stepped through behind Sonic.

Once her eyes adjusted to the dim conditions inside, Amy's initial opinions about the establishment were all but confirmed. Outside, it looked rustic at best and inside, it was fairly crowded with people she didn't recognize and almost feared. She wondered how many of them were in Silver Wind. "It looks kind of... foreboding."

Sonic glanced at the smaller, pink hedgehog. "This is actually one of the nicer ones in town. C'mon, I'll show you around."

Without waiting for a reply, Sonic took the female by the arm and guided her further in, pointing towards the counter with his free hand. "That guy over there is Bark. He owns the bar and gives guildmembers discounts on drinks."

Amy looked towards where he was pointing. Behind the long tabletop portion of the bar, a massive, light-yellow polar bear wearing a red cap and green scarf while scrubbing the interior of a dented iron mug.

"He might look scary, but he's actually a nice guy. Although, he isn't much for words. I think I've only heard him speak once in the four years I've known him."

The bear looked up and happened to notice Sonic standing across the room with Amy beside the blue hedgehog. The bear nodded briefly at Sonic and then raised an eyebrow towards Amy.

"New recruit!" shouted Sonic.

The bear nodded again and lowered his eyes back to his task.

Sonic glanced at Amy. "See? Nice guy."

Amy scanned the room again, looking for someone she might recognize. She didn't get much chance before Sonic lead her off again, this time towards a table with a couple of females like herself. A bat, a fox, and a... badger, maybe?

The trio of women didn't notice the two until Sonic rapped his knuckles briefly on the table. The three ceased their small talk and looked up at Sonic, who was still holding Amy gently by the arm. "Rouge, Roxan, Sticks," said Sonic, meetiong eyes with each female as he listed their names. "I'd like you to meet Amy." He released her arm and waved his other hand towards her. "She's the new girl, so I figured you guys would like to meet."

The bat, Rouge, tipped her chair back and propped her feet up on the small table. Amy noticed her lengthy, leather boots reached right up to her shins and appeared to be made of very soft material. "Oh, so you're the new recruit then. We were just talking about you," she informed the female hedgehog.

They were talking about her? Amy felt a little self-conscious about that fact. Was it good, bad, or somewhere in between?

The bat gave her a quick look-over. "Hm, you might have what it takes, but I wouldn't bet on it. Roxie?"

The fox sipped her drink and shrugged. "Doesn't really bother me. Either she makes it through training or she doesn't. It's as simple as that."

Amy looked the group over individually. Roxan appeared to be a fennec fox, with light brown fur, large ears, and geared up in boiled leather armor. Amy also noticed the quiver lying on the floor beside the fox's chair and the bow slung across her back. She guessed that the fox was an archer of some sort. Next, the bat. Rouge was by far the most attractive of the group, Amy realized. Her chest was rather busty and the white bat made no attempt to hide it. Her entire outfit seemed tailor-made to fit a closely to her body as possible while allowing an ample amount of skin to show through. In sheathes along the vest part of her armor, the bat had several steel daggers sticking out only semi-noticably. Completing the outfit was a dark blue hood resting around the bat's neck. Clearly the bat was some kind of rogue. And finally, the badger. Sticks must have been her name. She was the smallest and youngest of the group, probably somewhere around fifteen years old. Her hair was braided in two large pigtails and her armor was the flimsiest by far. It appeared to be made simply out of cloth and bone clasps. Maybe she was some kind of amazon, given how the badger dressed.

At length, Amy realized she had been staring and flushed slightly while she held forward a trembling hand. "P-pleased to m-meet you," she stammered.

Rouge smiled and took the hand politely, if stiffly. "Believe me, the pleasure is all ours. Just don't disappoint us, alright, sweetie?"

The bat released Amy's hand and took another drink from her mug.

Roxan and Sticks on the other hand ignored the gesture and proceeded to act as if the hedgehog wasn't there. Sticks at least looked a little uncomfortable, but Roxan just kept drinking.

"Alright then, let's go, Amy. There's a couple other people I want you to meet." Once he lead her far enough away, the hedgehog whispered softly in her ear. "Don't worry too much about them. Rouge is friendly enough, but Roxan can be a bit bitchy at times. As for Sticks... well, you'll learn what she's like soon enough. They'll all warm up to you after a while."

Meanwhile, across the bar in one of the darkest corners a ferret was staring directly at the two as they tried to make their way over to table with the echidna from the guild earlier and two more females. The ferret smiled slyly and thought silently to himself, 'Sonic, you shouldn't have.' He downed the last of his ale and stood up, easily picking his way across to the pair of hedgehogs.

"Sonic, my friend! I do believe you missed me in the corner over there!" shouted a voice to Sonic and Amy's left. Both looked over and Sonic groaned.

"Not this guy," he grumbled.

The ferret who had spoken stopped in front of both Sonic and Amy, effectively blocking their view of the table with Knuckles and the others.

"I was beginning to think you just ignoring me. But... you wouldn't do that, would you buddy? Not after all the great quests I kick your way, right? Of course not. Even so, I don't believe you're companion and I have met yet."

Sonic stared evenly at the ferret as an awkward silence fell between them. At length the ferret motioned with his hands to move the conversation forward.

Sonic grimaced. He turned to Amy. "This is Garret. A friend of the guild, and I use the term loosely."

The ferret bowed graciously. "Pleased to meet you, Miss..."

"Amy," the pink hedgehog finished for him.

The ferret gave a cheeky grin and took her hand to place a soft kiss on it. "Miss Amy. A beautiful name for a beautiful lady," he commented suavely.

Amy wasn't sure what Sonic didn't like about the ferret; so far, he seemed to be the friendliest face she had seen today. "A friend? So you're not a guildmember then?"

Garret smiled. "Not officially, no. But I have about as much pull as a Silver Rank. Isn't that right, Sonic?"

The blue hedgehog refused to answer.

"Then what exactly do you do?"

"Glad you asked! I'm a contact of sorts. Need a special item? Information? A job that pays well? Then just come to ol' 'Uncle' Garret and I'll see what I can dig up. Oh, but all for a price of course. My services aren't cheap and I can't just give them away."

Sonic spoke up. "Which is why you could ask an actual guildmember for that stuff."

Garret's smile faltered. "Don't interrupt, Sonic. Can't you see the nice lady and I are trying to have a conversation?" The ferret looked back to Amy. "I should be leaving anyhow. But I have a feeling we'll be seeing each other again, real soon," he said cryptically. And without another word, the ferret brushed past Amy and headed off to another table, the one with Rouge, Roxan, and Sticks. Amy trembled gently as she felt his fur come into contact with hers.

"You should probably stay away from him for now. His 'jobs' are usually very dangerous and he's as slick as they come. He always knows more than he lets on and isn't above cheating you if it means he gets a bigger profit off of it. Let me or either Knuckles or Shadow deal with him. He generally plays straight with us," Sonic warned her. "Speaking of which, I think it's time you and Knuckles meet properly."

Amy tore her gaze away from the odd ferret as Sonic lead her towards his intended destination. This day was getting stranger by the second.

...

Author's Note II: So what did you think about that? Like I said, it's still in-progress, but I personally like how it's shaping out. Check out my profile page for some basic info about the fic and what it's going to entail.