Chapter Title: N/A

A/N: Not a very eventful chapter but I hope you all enjoy :)

5 — The Bad Guy

Sonic continued running once he reached Angel Island.

A yawn escaped him as he made his way down the trail leading to the Master Emerald with tired eyes and messy quills. He had convinced Amy that he had something to do last night and wouldn't be back home until late today. In reality, he didn't have anything to do but he just felt weird having to share a bed with the pink hedgehog so instead he slept in a nearby tree.

It wasn't the most comfortable, especially considering the cold weather, but he had a lot on his mind. He also felt embarrassed with how he had woken up last time by the pink hedgehog. Just thinking about it brought chills down his back since any type of intimate contact felt uncanny and wrong.

Not only that, he still needed answers to the current present especially since there were far more drastic changes and he didn't know about. He wanted to learn what kind of man he had become and what influenced all his decisions. Then there was the biggest question in his head he couldn't get out of his head since everything happen.

Had Sally really married the Monkey Ken?

If she did, did that mean she was happy. What was she doing right now? Where was she exactly? He hated to admit it but he had actually visited her castle last night but found no trace of her anywhere which added to his lack of sleep.

He wanted to see her.

He needed answers.

An annoyed groan escaped his lips as he shook his head until he was suddenly taken by surprise when he caught himself almost running into a brick wall. Luckily, Sonic's shoes dug into the ground, stopping him just in time before he hit the wall, confusion flooding his mind as he looked it over more closely.

It looked like… a house!

Now that was new. He could have sworn that Knuckles hated houses and always slept on the cold ground outside. Why was it that he now suddenly has one? This was all just too strange.

"Hello!" Sonic knocked hesitantly. "Anybody home?"

After a brief moment, a familiar face appeared, looking annoyed. "Ah, it's you." The red enchidna said.

"Knuckles!" Sonic greeted with wide eyes as he looked up at the enchidna's newly robust figure. "You got big…" he said bewildered, unsure if he was seeing things right.

Knuckles looked at him with a raised brow. "Tails told me you were feeling off. You better?"

"Hm?" Sonic wondered, shocked by the echidna's mature state and the fact he was actually asking him how he felt for once. "Yeah, I'm all better."

"Come in," Knuckles stepped aside, walking into a what appeared the living room as Sonic followed along curiously. "Sorry I couldn't come check on you but I was busy taking care of the kids."

"Kids?" The blue hedgehog paused, looking even more baffled now when suddenly he heard footsteps running into the room.

"Uncle Sonic!" Then boomed within the living room and the blue hedgehog felt his confusion rise new extremities.

"Huh?" Sonic's mouth was agape at the sight of two identical strawberry colored toddlers running up to him in princess dresses and throwing themselves into his arms.

They were twins with the only difference being their eye color: one had purple eyes and the other teal eyes. Other than that, they seemed to have a familiar bat's face shape and ears with the exception of having long downward quills that curved up at the bottom. They looked like purebred hedgehog's but Sonic recognized their characteristics that pointed to otherwise.

"You made little clones of yourself?" Sonic asked, glancing at Knuckles' own purple eyes with bewilderment.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny." Knuckles scoffed, sitting down on his sofa tiredly.

"I knew Rouge and you had a thing." Sonic chuckled, still surprised as he glanced around the room to see family portraits of the pair hanged on the walls.

He was really starting to see how much the world around him had changed not only for him but also for those around him. It was strange really. Even though he expected that Knuckles would end up with Rouge he never expected to see them with kids.

Sonic scratched the back of his neck unsurely, turning to the two little girls."So uh what are your names again?" He asked.

"Gosh, Mister Sonic! You can never tell us appart!" Giggled the one with purple eyes, as she twirled around. "We have different eye colors! Remember? I'm Topaz!"

"And I'm Diamond!" Said the other one as she blinked her eyes innocently.

He should of expected such names since they were the daughters to the jewel thief.

"Right. I knew that!" Sonic grinned. "How are you little rascals?"

"We're good!" They said in sync.

"At least you don't smell funny today!" Diamond giggled as she sniffed Sonic alongside with her sister who nodded in agreement.

"Hm?" Sonic blinked, confused. "What do you mean?"

"That's enough, girls." Knuckles snapped suddenly, giving them a look as they pouted. "Remember that your mother is going to take you girls out for a pedicure so go brush your quills."

"Aw, fine!" Again they said in sync, jumping out of Sonic's arms and running back out the room with smiley faces and waving their hands. "Bye, bye, Uncle Sonic!"

Sonic waved back, wanting to chuckle at how whipped the enchidna seemed. It seemed like getting with the white bat really made him a different person. He was a father now too so that must have also changed his life.

A father…

That's right.

Sonic was going to be one too.

The very thought made his nerves get wired and his head fuzzy. Seeing Knuckles kids suddenly made everything feel more real. It was finally hitting him that he was going to be a dad.

"What does it feel like?" He suddenly asked Knuckles, as he sat on the other couch.

"What do you mean?"

"To be a dad." Sonic gave him a weary look. "Doesn't it feel weird?"

Knuckles looked taken aback by his question but somehow proud. "It feels terrifying and thrilling at the same time." He actually smiled, glancing over at a family portrait in the room. "They are my proudest creations."

Sonic was taken aback by the look of happiness that shined with the enchidna's purple eyes and Sonic wondered if he would feel that same way when Amy would give birth. He couldn't famthom what that would feel like. It was all still so strange.

Then something bigger, more important to him in that moment, crossed his mind.

"So, about the kingdom…" Sonic found himself asking unsurely. "where's Sal?"

Knuckles gave him an awkward look, crossing his arms. "Out of town to do discussions civil matters with the neighboring kingdom. I assumed you'd know that."

"Ohh, right!" Sonic lied, wanting to ask more but something told him he shouldn't.

He decided he would hold back on that for a bit.

Somehow Sonic found himself asking more questions about being a father and teasing the red enchidna about how much he had changed over the years. He even asked if Knuckles had taken steroids which Sonic found hilarious when Knuckles said he wasn't and admitted that the tabloids wouldn't stop talking about it because Sonic was the first one to make that remark to them.

Now that sounded more like him.

A part of him wanted to know just what the enchidna had done to get so beefy, not that Sonic was lacking one bit, but he held back. Instead they continued to converse casually, eminiscing, when suddenly Sonic brought up the other day with Amy which got a weird reaction from the enchidna.

"You're joking, right?" Knuckles looked shocked.

"Nope. I really went." Sonic looked confused. "Is it that weird?"

"I thought you said going to those things was stupid and unnessary because you didn't need some strangers teaching you how to deal with kids."

Sonic almost spit his drink. "I said that?"

"Yeah…" Knuckles looked at him with a raised brow. "That's why you told Amy not to ask you again and to go alone since she was the one with the 'brilliant' idea."

Sonic sat quietly.

It didn't sound like something he expected himself to say so he wondered if the enchidna was being serious.

"Right…" Sonic laughed uneasily, scratching the back of his neck. "Well I finally realized that it wasn't too bad."

"I told you," Knuckles shook his head, "when Rouge dragged me to them I thought they were going to be weird but it was actually fun and educational."

The thought that Knuckles was actually being a better husband than himself really made him feel unsettled. He always expected it to be the opposite. That Knuckles would be more cold and distant when it came to being in a relationship.

Now it seemed like the more he learned about his past self the more he got the most unexpected and uncharacteristic revelations about himself. The idea made him frown. He didn't like it one bit.

"Yeah…" Knuckles suddenly said, snapping his attatiin back to him. "Well Rouge should be getting here soon so I need to get dinner started before she leaves again with the girls."

Sonic wanted to laugh. "Since when do you cook?" He never even saw the enchidna cook for himself and now he cooked for a whole family? Ha! Now that was unexpected.

"Well I am better at it then her but even if I wasn't she really would appreciate it. You should try it out sometime. It's not lame like you said." Knuckles said, giving the blue hedgehog a glare.

"I never said it was lame!" Sonic denied because really he didn't recall ever saying such thing.

Knuckles walked him out. "You sure about that?" He asked.

"Well…" Sonic paused, outside now, considering how his past self probably did say something like that by how everything else sounded. He frowned, "I don't think it's lame anymore."

Knuckles gave him a look. Almost as if he was inspecting something on the blue hedgehog but couldn't find a trace of whatever he was and shook his head.

"Remember!" He called out as the hedging got ready to run off. "Sunday!"

Sonic nodded and after saying a brief goodbye, he was gone just like the wind. Thoughts were quickly running around his mind. Confusion more than ever and even anger not towards anyone else but rather at himself.

Sonic was certain of one thing.

His past self was a bad husband.

It didn't take much to piece those things together after his talk with Knuckles and Amy's sad expression. He just wasn't sure why. He never considered that he would be a bad husband even if he wasn't in love with Amy. It wasn't in his nature to be the bad guy.

Why he would even marry Amy raised the bigger question. It didn't sound like he was anywhere near in love with the girl, not that it shocked him, and he couldn't help but curse himself out. Just what was his past self thinking when he asked her to get married?

None of it made by sense.

Again, Sonic cursed himself out once he reached his home. He needed to find more answers and make up for the lost time his past self was making. He had to fix those mistakes somehow and get back to his timeline and make sure he didn't succumb to getting in loveless marriage with Amy.

As Sonic entered his home, he realized how late it was and noticing the silent atmosphere that Amy was probably sleeping which he wad hoping for to avoid awkwardness of sharing a bed. A part of him wanted to sleep outside again but after his conversation with Knuckles, he oddly felt like seeing Amy. So here he was now, slowly making his way up to their room.

His eyes drifted around the dark hallway and for the first time ever he began to look at the hanging portraits.

It was portraits of the two of them in their younger days.

He smiled to himself at the memories. These he knew quite well as he glanced and admired them all. He hadn't realized that they had taken so many pictures together or rather that the media had. Most of these were of Amy clinginging to him and him looking disgruntled. Now that was iconic.

Sonic froze once he reached a certain portrait that stood out from all the others. It was arranged to stand out more, especially with the frame size, and the actual occasion. He swallowed, running a hand down the image. It was their wedding picture.

Amy looked beautiful as always with her quills arranged in waves, her bangs curling and an open slit dress that showed off her sparkling heels, toned leg halfway, and gave her an alluring look with the heartheart sheer lace corset top that hugged her waist perfectly and showed off just enough cleavage.

Sonic couldn't help but blush as he looked her body over. He couldn't tell as much now because of her belly but it seemed that her body had gotten more curvier over the years. Her waist looked much smaller and he could tell she was toned (from over the years of training for battle) and for a second he wondered what she looked like without anything on. His whole face turned bright red as his thoughts were filled with wonder of what their wedding night might have been like. He bit his tongue, shutting his eyes tight, trying to brush away the dirty thoughts in his head before he got too happy. He had never had such thoughts before about the pink hedgehog and it felt wrong.

He had to think of something else.

Anything.

Whatever could get such thoughts out of his head.

Knuckles.

He thought of Knuckles and felt like barfing. It was gross but at least least it worked. He opened his eyes again and those perverted thoughts seemed to vanish and he looked back at the portrait.

Instead of looking at her assets again, he looked at her face and frowned. Strangely, her smile didn't seem genuine but rather uncomfortable next to his smiling face. Even stranger was that in the portrait Sonic had his arm around her, pulling her close against his chest, and with a wide smile on his face, he grinned at the camera.

It was odd.

Something about his smile felt off and uncanny. It might sound silly but it wasn't like any of his usual smiles full of charm and carefree. This smile seemed loopy and his cheeks seemed rather rosy with his eyes looking hooded. It didn't seem… right.

The cobalt hedgehog furrowed his brows in confusion but his thoughts were soon interrupted by the creaking movement of a bed and his eyes drifted towards the open door just a few feet away. A soft smile made itself to his face and he let out a soft breath and made his way over to it only to peer inside to see a sleeping hedgehog in bed.

A quiet chuckle escaped his lips as he walked over to the bed and sat on the empty side of the bed, removing his shoes. Sleeping on a tree in this cold weather wasn't something he was planning on doing again nor could he keep running away from this situation so just for now it shouldn't be wrong. His future self probably slept countless times with Amy and if he kept running away they would probably suspect something was wrong with him which was not something Sonic wanted after Tails' last experiments.

Once done removing his shoes, Sonic lay besides the pink hedgehog and turned on his side to look at her sleeping soundlessly with head rested on his hand. He took in very detail. This was the first time he saw her asleep and he swore that she looked almost angelic.

His hand lingered over her cheek in almost what seemed like fear. As if she would shatter as soon as he touched her face. His fingers twitch; he wanted to trace the outline of her lips with my fingers. Sonic lifted his hand slowly; his finger touching her bottom lip causes her to jerk her head away. His hand freezes then moves on its own accord when she stills. Amy's lips are smooth and warm, and he couldn't believe his had touched them before. He wondered how times it had been. His finger moves slowly as he watches its trail, mesmerized, captivated.

From the corner of his eye, he saw swore he saw something move so his eyes drifted downward. Sonic's eyes watched the round belly intently. It was crazy to think that Amy, the fangirl who chased him with a hammer, was actually bearing his child. He still could fantoche it or accept it even though it was right in front of him. With much hesitance, he reached out to lay a hand over her belly and swallowed. They were married so this should be okay… right?

"Sonikku…" her gentle voice whispered.

Sonic jumped, turning to her. "Sorry. I didn't mean to. It's just that—" he paused, realizing she was still asleep.

His eyes softened at the sight. So she was dreaming of him?

He couldn't help but chuckle, setting his head on the pillow beside her and admiring her with a proud smile. So many years had passed and she was still head over heels for him? He found it… cute. Then again, as much as he hated being chased by her, he couldn't imagine a world without her in it doing just that.

Amy moaned in her sleep, turning suddenly to her side and facing him. Sonic swallowed, taken aback by how close their faces were to each other. Then he heard it, "I love you.." she mumbled in her sleep.

Sonic froze, still staring at her face but this time with wide eyes. This wasn't the first time he had heard these words but something about hearing them now felt different. It was almost like those three words held a different meaning now. They were heavier. More meaningful.

She no longer showed any essence of a fangirl.

He swallowed.

For the oddest reason, he suddenly felt like he couldn't breathe. Like something had caught in his throat and he couldn't speak. He also felt like screaming then throwing up which was a really odd sensation. At first he couldn't understand why he was feeling this way but as he watched Amy's innocent sleeping face he suddenly understood.

He felt guilty.

Sonic gently pushed her face against his chest, playing with her quills as she snuggled up to his chest. For once, he didn't mind the close contact but instead felt rather at peace. It was probably because she was sleeping but even so he made himself comfortable. Until he could get things back to normal, he was going to try and be a good husband to her for the baby's sake. Even if he didn't love her, that didn't mean he couldn't treat her with care. She still meant a lot to him and he hated to see her so sad.

Sonic was going to make sure that a loveless marriage wouldn't be in their future. To be exact, so their marriage wouldn't come to be. Even though he couldn't understand what his future self was thinking when he asked the pink hedgehog to marry, Sonic knew he had to do something about it to make sure she married someone who loved her the same way and would make her happy.

Unfortunately, that someone wasn't him but for now he would try to be the best husband he could be. To fix the mistakes of his future self and put a genuine smile back on her face. That was the least thing he could do until he figured out how to get things back to normal.

For Amy and… their baby.

Things are about to get rolling and I'll finally start adding chapter titles so I can't wait to show you guys what happens next! XD Let me know what you guys think!