Amy sat on her front porch, staring up at the sky. Any moment now, Tails was going to arrive in the Tornado IV and take them to Angel Island. She felt guilty for ditching him the day prior in the park and wanted to make it up to him somehow. As she thought back on the previous day, she couldn't help but think that he seemed to have dressed up a bit more than usual. She wondered if there was a reason for this, but her thoughts were cut off by the distant, droning sound of an engine. Turning her gaze to the direction of the sound, she was taken aback to see a jet plane descending from the air in her direction.

Amy stood up, in awe of the aircraft that was coming in for a landing. As the Tornado IV touched the ground, she ran over to it. The plane came to a stop, and Amy stopped to admire it. It looked almost like a fighter jet, but it was longer and could fit up to four people in it. An orange and blue color scheme coated the plane and two jet thrusters stuck out the back. The top hatch opened up and Tails stood up in the cockpit, grinning down at the pink hedgehog. "Beautiful, ain't she?" the kitsune asked.

Amy was too in awe to respond. Tails giggled to himself as he lowered down a ladder for her so she could climb in. As the hedgehog reached the top of the ladder and stepped inside, she was even more blown away. There were two seats in the front and two in the back. The plane had cupholders, food trays and even a mini fridge in the back. "It's like you built your own private jet," Amy said, her breath taken away.

"Well yeah, that's essentially what I did," Tails said nonchalantly, pulling up the ladder from the side of the plane. "There's some soda in the fridge back there. Help yourself!"

"Oh, thank you!" Amy said as she bent over to open the fridge.

As Tails finished putting the ladder away, he turned his gaze in Amy's direction and couldn't help but stare. Amy grabbed a can of Chao Cola and stood up, cracking the can open. She glanced in Tails' direction as she took a sip, who had his jaw open. "What?" she asked with a frown.

"Uh, nothing," Tails blurted, turning his head away so she couldn't see him blushing. "L-let's get this bird off the ground, shall we?" Tails walked quickly to the pilot's seat and buckled in. Although Amy thought he was acting strange, she simply shrugged and buckled herself in the seat next to him. Tails closed the hatch and made sure everything was set to go before backing up the plane a bit. "You're gonna wanna set that down while we take off," he said to the hedgehog in his peripheral vision.

"Uh, ok," Amy replied, setting her drink in the cup holder on her seat. "Why?"

As if to answer her, the Tornado IV zipped down the road and began ascending very quickly. Amy tensed up and clenched the arms of her seat, completely taken aback by the speed. Tails on the other hand was business as usual, silently closing the landing gear and setting a course for Angel Island that didn't require them going over Station Square. Once they were just above the clouds, the plane slowed to a reasonable cruising altitude and Tails turned on the auto-pilot. The kitsune turned to face his pink hedgehog friend, a big grin plastered on his face. "That's why," he said.

Amy hyperventilated from shock and exhaustion of the sudden take-off. "Good to know," she finally blurted out in between breaths.

Tails let out a laugh. "Don't worry, it scared me at first, too. I almost crashed this thing a few times when I first started using it." He grimaced, remembering the close calls he had in the past, before pushing that out of his mind and turning forward once again. "Anyways, we should reach Angel Island in about an hour. Not too bad, huh?"

Having finally calmed down, Amy composed herself and turned to Tails. "Only one hour?" she asked, surprised. "It used to take you three hours to get from my house to Angel Island. Four in the Tornado III, if I recall."

"Well first off, the Tornado III is a dogfighter," Tails explained. "It was built solely for combat. It was slow because it had heavy armor and weaponry attached to it so I could take hits from Eggman's drones while on the offense. This baby's different- the Tornado IV is built for speed."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Like Knuckles' bathing suit?"

Tails shuddered. "No, this thing is actually built for speed. Also, screw you for putting that image in my head again."

Amy laughed. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Still, it's impressive you were able to reduce the travel time so efficiently. How do you do it?"

Tails shrugged. "I'm just built different I guess. Or, well, the plane is at the very least."

The pink hedgehog let out a hearty laugh. "Oh, that's not funny at all…" she said between giggles.

The kitsune smirked. "That's not what I'm hearing."

The two of them chatted back and forth for the rest of the flight, passing the time until the plane touched down on the island floating in the sky.

A red Echidna lay in the grass next to a small lake by a waterfall. His clothes were dirty, his face was a mess, and overall, he was beyond tired. The red puffy eyes and dried tears on his cheeks were tell-tale signs he had recently finished balling his eyes out. He stared up at the sky, not really thinking about anything in particular. He tried his best to tune out the world around him and focus only on the lyrics to the song that echoed in his ears, originating from a pair of soft, bluetooth earbuds.

"It started out as a kiss; how did it end up like this?" the singer sang.

"It was only a kiss; it was only a kiss

Now I'm falling asleep and she's calling a cab

While he's having a smoke and she's taking a drag

Now they're going to bed, and my stomach is sick

And it's all in my head, but she's touching his

Chest now, he takes off her dress now, let me go…"

His pleasant blue sky view was cut off by a pink hedgehog's face suddenly appearing. At the same time, he felt her grab her arm and shake him lightly. She was saying something, but he couldn't hear her at all. The music was just too loud. He sat up a little, confused. A two-tailed fox not too far away motioned for him to take out his earbuds and he obliged. "Tails? Amy?" he asked, confused. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Amy told me you were gardening," Tails replied. His voice was calm, but his tone was serious. "You wanna talk about it, buddy?"

Knuckles sighed as he lay back down. "Shit, I forgot you knew what that meant," he muttered.

"Knuckles," Amy said, concern in her voice. "Please, tell us what's going on. We're your friends, we're here for you."

Knuckles let out a long sigh. The trio sat in silence for a bit, allowing him to collect his thoughts before speaking.

"She left me for that stupid 'ultimate lifeform' loser," Knuckles said finally.

"Oh, you saw that, did you?" Amy asked him softly.

Knuckles nodded slowly. "I hate it, man. Like, I walk in that house and I see all these empty spots, but in my head I see that they're things she had that were there, ya know? Then I just get so sad and angry I forget to eat. Then when I eat, it's all crap. I haven't been following my meal plan all week. Do you know what this is like?"

Tails knelt down next to Amy and put his hand on Knuckles' shoulder. "I know exactly what it's like," he replied softly.

Knuckles turned to face his two-tailed friend. "When does it end? When do I stop being upset all the time?"

"It's a process, dude. Things like this take time. You're not just gonna wake up one day and feel better, you gotta actively work on moving on."

Knuckles sat up again and looked Tails in the eyes. "What if I never move on though, man?" he asked, hopelessness present in his voice. "What if I'm stuck like this forever?"

Tails sighed, before letting out a soft, warm smile. "That's exactly what I thought," he said. "But in my darkest hour, you know what happened? A friend was there for me." Amy turned her gaze to face Tails, but said nothing. "I'd cut myself off from everyone, but she was persistent," the kitsune continued. "In the end, I caved. I told her about all of the emotions swirling around in my head. All of the feelings I had. All of the awful thoughts I'd been having… all of it. And you know what? She listened to me. She listened to me, and I felt a little better getting everything off my chest. I felt even better when she helped me out even more by just being there, just being a friend."

Amy blushed a little. She knew he appreciated how she'd helped her, but it was something else hearing him describe it like that. Neither Knuckles or Tails seemed to notice, since their attention was focused on each other.

"What's your point?" the echidna asked finally.

"My point," Tails said calmly, "is that you need to talk to your friends more. Even better, you need some time off this island, away from that half-empty house. It's not good for you right now." Tails stood up and looked down at his red friend. "Go pack some things, Knux. You're gonna stay with me for a while."

Knuckles was taken aback. "What? Bro, I can't-"

"Just for a few days," the kitsune said, cutting him off. "I don't want you alone right now, now while you're like this. Take it from someone who's been in your position- being alone is the opposite of what you need right now."

The two men stared at each other for a moment, before Knuckles nodded slowly. "Alright, yeah," he said finally, standing up. "I'll go pack some stuff. Thanks bro." The two shared a hug, before Knuckles walked off to his hut.

Amy stood up and hugged Tails from behind, catching him completely off guard. "You're an amazing friend, Tails," she said sweetly. "I'm glad to know someone as nice as you."

Tails blushed furiously. "W-well…" he stuttered. "It's just, you know, I don't wanna see him end up like I did. He wouldn't look good with mascara, anyways."

Amy laughed at her friend's joke. "You really went all out during that phase in your life, didn't you?"

"Don't remind me," Tails sighed.

Amy giggled and let go of him, then walked around to face him. "Let's go somewhere tonight," she said with a smile. "My treat."

The kitsune's heart skipped a beat. Had he heard that right? Did she really just ask him out to dinner? The logical part of his brain butted in immediately, demanding clarification.

"Tonight?" he asked. "All three of us?"

"Well…" Amy replied, looking away for a moment. "I was thinking I could call Sonic and fill him in on what's going on. He can hang out with Knuckles for a while and we can go somewhere, just the two of us."

Tails' face flushed. "Just us? Are you sure?"

The pink hedgehog nodded. "Yep! I wanted to do something for you to make up for bailing on you yesterday. Besides, Sonic and Knuckles haven't seen each other in a while, I'm sure they'd be fine with it. What do you say?" She tilted her head and smiled, waiting for him to respond.

"Keep calm, Miles," tails thought to himself. "She's just being nice and friendly. You know, because she's your friend. Act cool."

Tails cleared his threat and pretended to look disinterested. "Uh, yeah, that sounds good to me," he said, trying to act casual.

"Great!" Amy said cheerfully. "It's a date, then."

Tails blushed. "D-date?"

"Yo, you two dating now or something?" a voice asked. Knuckles had returned, a backpack slung over his shoulder. A smirk rested on his face, his eyebrows raised at the two of them.

Amy waved her arms about frantically. "Oh, no!" she said quickly. "Not like, a romantic date or anything. Just like, you know, a friend date. Two friends just hanging out. Right, Tails?"

The kitsune was caught off guard by suddenly being put on the spot. "R-right!" he said, a bit flustered. "Yeah, no, it's just she had to leave early yesterday and is making it up to me by taking me out somewhere. Nothing romantic about it at all."

Knuckles shrugged. "Alright then," the echidna said. "Where'd you park your private jet?"

"It's back outside the jungle." Tails turned to Amy. "Hey, do you mind going on ahead? I want to talk to Knuckles in private."

"Oh, sure!" Amy replied. "I'll meet you at the plane!"

Once Amy was out of sight, Tails turned to Knuckles. "Hey, so," he said cautiously," I'm sorry to bother you about stuff like this, especially right now-"

"I literally don't care at all, bro," Knuckles muttered.

Tails grabbed the sides of his friend's face and blurted out, "Oh my god, I don't know what to do. She's taking me somewhere and we're not dating but my brain is telling me it's a date but it's not. What do I do, man? She doesn't know I like her at all. What do I do, Knux? What do I do? I don't know wh-"

Knuckles grabbed Tails' arms and pulled them off his face. "Get your damn hands off me and chill out," he grumbled. He took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. "What's the problem?"

"I don't know what to tell her, man," Tails groaned."

"Well, what do you like about her?"

"Oh, that's easy!" Tails smiled as he thought about Amy. "I love her caring nature, I love her smile, I love her eye for fashion, I love her dedication, I love the way her bangs match mine, I love seeing her beautiful, emerald green eyes, I love-"

Knuckles cut him off by saying, "Ok, so just tell her that."

Tails blinked. "What?" he asked.

"Just tell her what you told me just now," Knuckles replied simply. "You know, just tell her how you feel, bro. That's what I did. Didn't you tell Cream how you felt back in the day?"

Tails scratched the back of his head. "Well… no, she confessed to me, actually. I've never really… You know, told someone that I like them. How do you do it?"

Knuckles shrugged. "You just tell them. It's that simple, dude."

"Are you sure? There's not like a-"

"All that brain power just goes to making simple things needlessly complex, doesn't it?"

Tails sighed. "Right, sorry. Thanks for the talk, I'll take your advice."

"Ok, cool. Let's get off this floating rock."

Knuckles started walking off and Tails followed suit. The kitsune thought to himself in silence. "So, in the course of a few hours, I've got a temporary roommate and a not-date with a girl I'm in love with," he thought to himself. "What a day it's been." The two friends walked back to the plane in silence.

Author's note: Managed to get this out before the day is over. Happy Easter, everyone.