Editing while suffering from hay fever is never fun. I just hope I haven't missed more than usual. Thanks for the reviews guys!

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Requested by Monkey D. Conan

The Cold Shoulder Effect

"I can't believe how easy that robot was to take down." Tails laughed as he and Sonic walked back through Station Square after having just foiled another one of Eggman's futile attempts to take over the city. The crazy doctor never seemed to learn.

"Either he's getting worse or we're getting better." Tails added and Sonic laughed with him.

"I'd say that it's us that's getting better." The blue hedgehog stated proudly, smirking before it turned into a genuine smile as he spotted Amy in the distance. She appeared to glance his way for a split second and Sonic gave her a little wave, knowing that any second she'd dash over and congratulate him on his victory. But Amy did something that completely threw him. She turned away. She turned away and walked in the opposite direct, acting as if she hadn't seen him. Was Sonic hallucinating? Amy Rose just ignored him. If she was mad, he'd feel the wrath of her hammer. Had he slipped into a parallel world?

"Whoa, did Amy just ignore you?" Tails asked, noticing her odd behaviour too.

Sonic narrowed his eyes in her direction in confusion before shrugging it off. "Maybe she just didn't see me." He concluded as they both headed back to Tails' workshop for some much deserved relax time.

The days went by and Sonic didn't hear one peep from Amy. Now he knew that something had to be wrong. Why wasn't she chasing him like normal? He'd usually been glomped by now. But the little pink hedgehog had gone quiet. Was she sick? Sonic paced by a willow tree nervously as thoughts of her ran through his head faster than his feet could. This was too weird for his liking. His thoughts travelled to the little get together that that gang was having that night and he nodded as he planned what he was going to do. If she was there then he would ask her. If she wasn't…well, then would be an appropriate time to panic. What if she wasn't there? His heart raced at the thought of something bad happening to her to make her vanish on him like this.

These painful thoughts didn't leave him for the rest of the day. The moment she seemed to ignore him plagued his thoughts. The party couldn't come soon enough and once he arrived, he kept looking around in a slightly frantic manner while he also tried to keep his cool. Subtlety was key here. Find the crazy girl, make sure she was ok and then hopefully everything will go back to normal. Maybe she had just been sick. Sonic repeated these thoughts in his head over and over again to reassure himself.

Bingo! There she was in the corner talking to Cream with a drink in her hand. She seemed fine; something about her seemed a little off, but otherwise healthy. Ok, Sonic, play it cool, he thought to himself as he began the attempt to walk past her. Somewhat unsurely, exactly the opposite of what he wanted, Sonic walked by her and smiled casually at her while she kept her eyes firmly locked on her drink in her hands, gripping the little plastic cup tightly with trembling fingers.

"Hey Amy." Sonic said casually, slowing down slightly, listening for her reply. Nothing happened and Sonic's ears flattened slightly as he kept walking, trying to shake off the awkwardness of the situation.

Was she…ignoring him?

Why?

Sonic searched his memories, trying to remember anything he might've done or said to her that would make her upset with him, but he came up blank. He frowned to himself as he stopped to lean against the wall and tried to subtly watch her from the other side of the room. She seemed perfectly content now that he was away from her. Girls were such a mystery. For as long as he could remember, she'd always been all over him, chasing him and when she got mad, out came the hammer. He'd never got a reaction like this out of her. It frightened him slightly. He didn't know how he was supposed to handle it. Never in his life had Amy given him the cold shoulder. This was something completely new and foreign to him. Amy Rose truly was a weird creature.

He almost laughed at how years ago he may have jumped for joy at this scenario. But no. For some reason this made his chest hurt to the point where Sonic raised his hand to rub it on his chest to make sure his heart was beating normally and that he wasn't having a heart attack. Besides beating faster than usual, his heart seemed fine.

Looks like he'd have to try a different approach to get her attention. He watched as Cream walked away, leaving Amy to stand on her own and Sonic picked this perfect opportunity to strike. While everyone else was busy talking, he made his way back over and he felt a stabbing sensation in his chest as her face turned sour when she realised he was heading her way.

"Need another drink?" Sonic offered before he mentally slapped himself. Another drink? Really, Sonic?! That's the best you could come up with? He plastered on a smile anyway and decided he had no choice but to go with it.

"No thanks." Amy mumbled flatly as she traced the rim of the cup with her finger, refusing to look at him.

Sonic stiffened at her behaviour, but kept trying. "So…you didn't get hurt during the battle the other day, huh?"

"Why would I?" Amy asked in a borderline aggressive tone.

Sonic's eyes widened slightly before he shrugged and traced the patterns on the wooden floor with the top of his shoe, kicking himself for probably looking more awkward than ever. Why did he find it so hard to talk to her? It was so frustrating!

"Oh…I…I was just wondering." Sonic stuttered awkwardly.

Amy huffed and didn't say anything else. Just stared at the other side of the room, looking incredibly mad and like she'd rather by elsewhere. With an annoyed sigh, Sonic fulfilled her obvious wish and walked away, leaving her alone. He couldn't believe that girl sometimes. Why was she being so horrible to him all of a sudden?

"Hey Sonic, wanna battle?" Knuckles walked up next to him, challenging him with a confident smirk on his face.

"Not in the mood." Sonic snapped quite coldly, making Knuckles stare at him in confusion.

"Whoa, what's gotten into you?"

Sonic turned around to glare at him. "I said I'm not in the mood."

And with that, Sonic stormed off much to the astonishment of the people around him.

.

Amy sighed as she curled into a tighter ball under the tree outside the small cottage she owned. Her book abandoned by her side as she wrapped her arms around her knees and buried her head in them as she tried with everything she had to banish Sonic from her mind. Unfortunately he kept popping back up; he always did. Why couldn't she just banish that horrible hedgehog from her mind? After everything she had heard, you'd think her heart would give up. But it didn't. Her mind replayed his words over and over again. Yet at the party, he had the nerve to act so innocent with her. She never realised how two-faced he really was. Her heart ached at the memory of a few days ago.

"Will you guys shut up?!"

Amy jumped as she heard Sonic's unexpected yell from the distance in the park. She giggled happily to herself, following the sound of his yell towards the shade of the treeline. Sneaking up on him was always so much fun to Amy. Seeing his flushed face as she seemingly appeared out of nowhere was always worth it.

She began to hear the muffled laughter of what sounded like Tails and Knuckles as she approached closer. Even better. More amusing embarrassment for Sonic when she jumped out at him. Finding it hard to supress her laughter, she ducked down and hid behind a nearby tree before the three of them could see her.

"Just admit it Sonic." Knuckles laughed before it sounded like he punched Sonic on the arm.

"There's nothing to admit!" Sonic shrieked. "I feel nothing for Amy. I never have and I never will so please just leave me alone! That girl is a pain."

Amy's eyes widened as her heart skipped a beat at what she had just heard. It felt like the world was blurring and morphing around her. A large lump formed in her throat and it felt like water was in her ears as she tried to make sense out of what Sonic had just said. She couldn't believe it. He hated her. He really hated her. The amount of malice in his tone was undeniable. So full of spite and annoyance. Yet he acted so differently to her face. Just when she was beginning to think she was getting somewhere with him…that he was finally going to just admit what Amy knew – or rather thought she knew – what was in his heart.

Tears clouded her vision and Amy ran away as silently as she could while the three of them continued to argue. She didn't even bother to listen to what else was being said. She didn't think she wanted to know. She'd heard all she needed to hear.

Amy shuddered at the memory. She had never ever cried so much in her life. If that was how Sonic really felt then maybe she should just make it easier for him and take herself out of the picture. She was honestly shocked at first. Thinking that Sonic would be overjoyed, but instead he actually made the effort to talk to her. Stupid hedgehog; messing with her feelings like that.

Well, she wasn't going to let him do it anymore. That much she promised herself.

"Look at the mess we have here." A female voice noted from above, frightening Amy slightly as she gasped and looked up to see a familiar white bat land in front of her.

"Hey! I'm not a mess!" Amy gasped out, offended.

"Are you kidding?" Rouge smirked. "I've never seen anyone mope about so pathetically."

Amy huffed. "What do you care?"

"I care because Sonic is driving everybody insane." Rouge sighed in irritation. "My my girl, what did you do to the poor boy?"

"I haven't done anything!" Amy shrieked. "He's the guilty one!"

"Ummhmm." Rouge smirked. "And have you talked things over with him?"

"Well, no, but –"

"Then how are you two ever going to sort things out?" Rouge shook her head as she interrupted the pink hedgehog.

"He's the one who said he hated me!" Amy yelled as fresh tears formed in her eyes. Dang it, she promised herself she wouldn't shed anymore tears for him again. So much for that.

Rouge sighed. "Well, that's not the impression I'm getting Pinkie."

Amy sniffed and tried to wipe her eyes. "What do you mean? Are you calling me a liar? I know what I heard."

"I'm not calling you a liar," Rouge defended before going on to explain, "I'm just saying that ever since you started ignoring him – and yes, we've all noticed it – that Sonic has practically been going crazy. He's not his normal self. He's been a nightmare."

"Why? What's he been doing?"

Rouge frowned. "Snapping at everyone, being grumpy all the time and has become quite reserved; not speaking unless he's been spoken to when and whenever he replies, it's always something sarcastic."

Amy stared at her blankly.

"But I for one have had enough." Rouge sneered. "You two are going to sort things out whether you like it or not."

Before Amy could even react, Rouge had picked the girl up and flew into the sky with her.

Amy screamed in irritation and fear. "Rouge! Put me down!"

.

"Now, you two…starting with the making up!" Rouge yelled before slamming the door of Cream's kitchen closed.

Sonic and Amy both stood awkwardly in the middle of the room before they glared at each other, huffed and turned away childishly. Sonic stormed over to the window, debating whether he should climb out that way, but in order to fit through, he'd have to break the glass. He didn't think that Vanilla would appreciate that.

Amy peered at him from the corner of her eye, biting on the inside of her cheek to prevent herself from crying or saying something horrible. If she reached out, she knew that she would almost be able to feel the tension in the air. It drifted between them like thick tar, sticking them to where they were currently stood, any wrong word or movement could cause them both to crack.

After what felt like hours of tense silence, Amy's ears perked up in shock when she heard Sonic speak.

"I don't know what I did to apparently upset you, but I'm sorry." Sonic sighed, a trace of anger still present in his tone.

"Sorry?" Amy repeated in shock. "You have no idea how much you've hurt me."

Sonic twisted around to glare at her. "Well maybe if you told me what I've done!"

"I overheard everything you said the other day!" Amy spat the words out, her face morphing into disgust as if she had tasted something vile. She couldn't believe that such words had come from Sonic's mouth.

Amy smirked smugly as Sonic's face suddenly dropped. He turned pale and froze solid, his eyes wide, scanning her face for her reaction.

"Y-you heard everything?" Sonic gasped out as if he had been punched.

"You bet I did." Amy growled out. "About you hating me."

The blue hedgehog then did something completely unexpected: he sighed with relief before he burst into a fit of laughter. Amy stared at him in shock, offended that he was finding this whole thing amusing.

"Sonic the Hedgehog, this isn't funny!" Amy snapped, clenching her fists in anger.

"Yes it is," Sonic clutched his side as he calmed down, "You've been mad at me all this time because you heard something out of context? That's what you get for eavesdropping Amy."

"Huh?"

"Those things I said weren't true; how could you think they were?" Sonic explained. "Why would I hate you? You're one of my best friends."

"Don't lie to me!"

"I'm not lying!" Sonic insisted, taking a few steps towards her, but still carefully keeping his distance. "Believe me, if I hated you, you'd certainly know about it."

"But…but…" Amy stuttered in confusion. "But how could that conversation mean anything else? You, Tails and Knuckles…you were laughing about me and you said that you hated me."

Sonic looked away awkwardly. "It was only pretend Amy."

"Pretend? Pretend for what?" This was just getting more and more confusing to her.

"Look," Sonic sighed, "I'm sorry that you took it the wrong way, of course I don't hate you. Just please don't ignore me again. It was actually kinda weird not having you around. I didn't like it."

Amy narrowed her eyes at the fact that he was avoiding her question. How could she trust him? How could she be sure that whatever he was saying was actually true? She stared at his green eyes; so sincere, no sign of hate to be seen. She eventually couldn't help but smile at him.

"See, I'd never do something like that to a good friend." Sonic smiled back.

"I'm sorry for ignoring you and being horrible." Amy sighed. "But that still doesn't answer my question."

Sonic froze. "Oh, errrr…"

"You two love birds made up yet?" Rouge demanded as the door burst open, providing Sonic with his chance to easily escape, leaving both Rouge and Amy stood staring at the place he had vanished with confusion.

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