Chapter 4
Amy dreamt of him that night and awoke embarrassed about it.
She dreamt that she was standing on a cliff's edge, the waves lapping beneath like the ocean itself was licking its lips hungrily. She was enthralled and afraid standing so high up, on the verge of waking but not quite willing to leave the dream. The earth crumbled out from beneath her feet, and she dug her fingers into the soil, holding onto the edge of the cliff for dear life. Her dress billowed around her legs, the wind ripping her around, trying to tear her from the cliffside and down into death's open jaw.
Sonic was suddenly there standing over her, bending down to grab her hands out of the dirt. He held her, dangling over the drop, for a long moment as Amy looked into his eyes pleadingly. He was smiling that same smile he had flashed her so many times that night, and his eyes were the same warm, green ones she had stared into. But he made no move to help her. He just held her gaze, and her hands, in an unfeeling iron grip.
Save me! she tried to yell at him. What are you doing?
But the sound was ripped from her throat by the wind. He pulled her up, their noses almost touching, and his smile grew wide and toothy. She shuddered and felt her sweat go cold when his lips parted, revealing a mouthful of sharp, fang-like teeth.
She awoke before she could tell if he had pulled her to safety or let her go, and she shivered alone in her bed when she remembered that she would be meeting him again the next night. When she realized that she was willfully putting her life in the hands of that mysterious, charming stranger.
Cream helped her dress quickly that morning, and Amy hoped desperately that her father would leave her alone for the day. She wanted nothing less than to be called to court to talk of husbands or forced to play instruments for visiting dignitaries like a show pony. Her top priority was to find Shadow and bid him a proper farewell before he left on his too-long mission.
Amy slipped out of her room and headed to the training grounds. Shadow would be readying his gear for the mission, talking strategy with his fellow knights. She wasn't usually allowed near the grounds unaccompanied - it wasn't considered a decent place for women to be - but she needed to wish him well. She would feel his absence every day he was gone, and she wanted him to know that.
She sat and waited in the gardens where she could monitor the door to the arena, trying to look casual as she did, nodding to those who might walk by and bow to her. It wasn't odd or out of place for a Princess to preen in a garden - not that Amy cared. And she certainly didn't care who thought she looked odd when she jumped up and ran to meet her knight with happy abandon as she saw him leaving the arena.
Shadow was as dashing and brooding as ever in his armor, polished to perfection by none other than he, himself. A labor of love likely performed in the wee hours of the morning, in the blissful solitude of his quarters. He was surrounded by several other knights as he left, but his ears pricked when he heard Amy drawing near. To his great relief, he caught sight of her running uncouthly toward him before anyone else around him did.
"I've left something inside - go without me to the stables," he commanded, pointing the other men away from where Amy was barreling toward him, hoping to stop them from seeing the Princess debasing herself to speak privately with a guard. The knights left dutifully and Shadow turned quickly to stride towards Amy, closing the distance and looping her arm easily into his.
"In the hedges," he said coldly. Amy nodded and followed him, catching her breath as he redirected her energy and momentum effortlessly.
Once he saw they were in relative seclusion, he turned to her sternly.
"Running? Lounging near the training grounds? You must be dying to undermine your own respectability," Shadow scolded.
"No, I'm dying to see you off!" Amy smiled back, determined to keep his cynicism from bringing her down. "You'll be gone for two months, Shadow. When you come back, we'll only have a month left to prepare for the tournament, and I'll be… engaged."
The word tasted sour, vile in her mouth. And it broke her heart that it did. Love - the idea of engagement - was something that Amy had always coveted, something she thought should be beautiful. She resolved to reclaim the idea for herself - to fight for the hope of a real love that would surely be hers someday if she could only manage to change the very nature of the world around her.
And she believed she could do that. She believed it with her whole being.
"You have a righteous fire in your heart, Amy - my Lady," Shadow caught himself, disturbed he let her name slip into his mouth so easily. "I have no doubt that when I see you in two months, you will be a much finer fighter than the one I know now."
Amy smiled at him affectionately. It was her same Shadow on the outside - arms crossed, lips tight, eyebrows knit in concentration - but now, after 10 years, his words were genuine and intimate. The intensity of having Shadow as her confidant was staggering and new to her, but the air between them was familiar. He was familiar. His harsh care brought her immense comfort.
"And I have no doubt that when I see you in two months, you'll be the same grump you always are," she said. She could've sworn she saw the edge of Shadow's lip quirk up.
"Please, be careful while I am gone, your majesty," he said with a solemn bow.
Amy knew he meant it to be a general well-wish. Shadow was her guard, of course he would say that. But the words cut through her like a warning, like he knew she was doing something reckless. She wouldn't have been surprised if he could read that she was already keeping a secret plainly on her face.
"I will write to you," she promised. "It'll be boring drivel about lessons and my father, but you love boring stuff, so I'm sure you'll find it thrilling." She reached up and slipped a long, gold chain from around her neck, reaching toward him.
"What -" Shadow started to protest, stepping back, but Amy stopped him with a 'tsk' and a mischievous grin.
"You need a token, silly! A good luck token while you're gone - and from a fair maiden no less, this must be your lucky day!" She slipped the chain around his neck and adjusted the pendant, pulling the small, dangling ruby set in gold down so that it sat centered on his chest. The gem was no bigger than a tear drop, but it felt heavy as they looked at each other. Shadow opened his mouth, a mix of determination and confusion on his face, then closed it and instead bowed deeply again. His repeated gesture of reverence made Amy smile - he could be comically stuffy, but Amy knew it was one of the few ways he knew how to show her affection.
"Thank you, your majesty," Shadow said, then added after a beat: "I am forever in your debt."
He hoped it was enough to communicate to her how deeply he felt her gesture.
"Thank you," she said gently. "You've given me hope, and so much more. It is I who is indebted to you, Shadow."
Shadow suddenly grasped her hand and pressed it to his lips with conviction, despite how scandalous he knew the gesture to be. Amy couldn't help the tinge of blush on her cheeks as he did it.
"Don't say things like that," he growled, releasing her hand just as quickly as he had snatched it. "We haven't won anything yet."
Sonic arrived in the glade early to wait for Amy. After several moments of attempting to relax against a tree trunk - which he was usually great at - Sonic grew anxious for reasons he couldn't name and found himself inexplicably standing by the pond.
He caught a glimpse of his grimy muzzle and matted fur in the reflection of the water and cringed. He was… dirty… and suddenly very aware of it. Sonic usually didn't mind when there was dirt in his fur, it was hard to avoid in his line of work, but he was going to be getting physical with Amy - with her consent - and felt what he was shocked to find was a twinge of self-consciousness about his appearance. Amy was a woman of some sort of noble rank, and more than that, his ticket to saving Silver. The least he could do was be presentable for her.
He untied the brown kerchief around his neck, dipping it into the still water to wipe his cheeks and brow. He bristled at the feeling of the water in his fur as he turned his head this way and that, examining his reflection in the pond. His image reflected an exaggerated grimace back at him. He hated water. But as the grime began to melt away and the cool air pricked his skin, he slowly realized just how unkempt he was.
Sonic looked around for a sign of Amy's imminent arrival, then quickly pulled his shirt off and submerged it when he found none. He had time, he reasoned, using his kerchief to wipe his chest and arms down, gulping down the subconscious urge to shiver as he tried desperately to clean up.
He didn't want to be caught like this - bare, shivering, vulnerable. His heart began to race, but he chalked it up to excitement about getting to fight. Just anticipation. Or a reaction to the horrible feeling of dampness soaking into his skin and matting down his fur.
Someone cleared their throat behind him and he spun around, almost falling into the pond. His hand splashed into the shallow water as he stumbled back, and he jumped up quickly at the horrible sensation, grumbling and gagging, shaking himself off compulsively.
Amy snickered from behind Sonic, using her hand to cover the blush on her cheeks. When she had come upon him, turned around like that, she could see the strong spikes protruding from his back, his broad shoulders and lean muscle. She was shocked at how… frozen she had felt, stuck gazing at him.
There was an embarrassingly delicious flicker of excitement and vulnerability welling in her stomach as she watched him curse and flail.
"Sorry, did I come at a bad time?" she laughed as Sonic tried and failed to get out of the way of the water.
"Chaos," he muttered unamusedly, wiping his hand on his trousers and gathering his soaked shirt from where it lay drowning in the pond. He made as if to throw the dense, wet ball of cloth at her, and she laughed and dodged the fake-out.
"What's wrong?" Amy snickered as he shook his head at her scoldingly. "Did I scare you?"
"Not at all," Sonic said, trying to recover some pride. "I just… I'm not water's number one fan, is all." He paused, looking at her, unsure why he had let that personal truth slip.
"Ohhh, does the unshakable Sonic have a weakness, then?" she teased.
It was getting hard for Amy to contain her blush and keep her eyes on his face now that he was facing her. She pulled at the brim of her cap to keep him from finding her out as her eyes strayed to his chest and down his torso.
"That's lesson number one," Sonic said, walking towards her, wringing his shirt out. "Everyone has a weakness. And yes," he winked, "that includes me."
Amy swallowed hard at that wink. Intrusive thoughts ran through the back of her mind about his stupidly charming face, the outline of his muscles along his arms and stomach, and how he was getting closer to her…
"Um, right - lesson one… Good," Amy said, not quite sure where to look as he stood before her. She tipped her head up and stared innocently at the dark sky.
"What's yours?" he said, looking down his nose at her smugly. "Your weakness, I mean."
"I…" Amy stalled, "don't… I don't have one," she finished promptly. She glanced at him, then immediately back up at the sky when she caught sight of his stupid, self-important smile.
"Oh?" he teased, watching the blush creep up her neck with satisfaction. "Sure, sure - you don't have a single weakness... So then, what's wrong? Just don't like what you see?" He was instantly gratified as she sputtered at him in stunned rage. He turned from her, laughing heartily, and hung his shirt to dry on a tree branch.
Amy felt like she could breathe again as his eyes finally left her face.
"Well, I - No!" Her eyes widened and she stumbled to correct herself. "No, I mean - no as in, you're, uh -"
"I never would've guessed you, of all people, were one to get embarrassed so easily. I thought you were a fearsome fighter?" he tossed the last two words in her face like it was a dare and was delighted when her expression turned stony.
"Well, if you would stop flirting and fight me already, then you'd know I am!" she shot back, the fire in her cheeks turning from embarrassment to exasperation.
"Woah, slow down," Sonic chuckled. "You need to learn some technique first, then beatdown."
Amy grumbled something under her breath about how he was a pompous asshole, which made him laugh, but she gestured sweepingly for him to begin the lesson for the evening. Sonic gave his shirt one last wring-out then pulled it back over his head with a sigh, shivering. He thought he could hear Amy chuckle at his misfortune, but he ignored her, brandishing his knife. He quirked an eyebrow at her, taking a fighting stance, taunting her to come closer with his hand and usual roguish expression. A wonderful smile seized Amy as she materialized her hammer and crouched. Sonic couldn't help but smile back.
"You better watch out - this time I won't miss," she promised.
"We'll see about that," he smirked, already having fun. "Now, lesson… two is about using a large weapon to outmaneuver smaller ones." Sonic came at her slowly, telegraphing his movements to see if Amy knew how to counteract him. As he jabbed straight for her stomach, she shifted from her stance and swung her hammer slowly around his knife until the head of it was inches from his face. They froze like that, a breath between them, his knife pointed to her heart, her hammer at his head.
"I hit you in the face - I win," she said as they stayed frozen in their stand-off. Sonic shook his head.
"Wrong. I'm faster than you," he gestured as he spoke. "I stab you in the stomach, because I get there first, and, yeah - maybe you land your hit - but now you're majorly bleeding and I'm only minorly battered. Which one of us do you think is going to be able to recover and keep fighting?"
Amy's lips set in a thin line and she nodded begrudgingly in understanding. Sonic stood straight, lowering his knife from her chest, motioning to her weapon.
"May I?" he asked gently. Amy almost blushed again. She felt touched by his check-in, and nodded her consent. He sheathed his knife and walked around her, grabbing the left side of her hammer, his hand skimming hers.
"When in doubt, play defense. Better to be safe and keep fighting than to make a wrong call and give yourself a disadvantageous injury. I'm sure it's very difficult for you to understand, but hitting hard isn't always the solution," Sonic instructed, moving her hammer into a guarding position.
"I know that!" Amy said, but nodded and swallowed hard as his chest pressed into her back. His hand gripped onto the staff of her hammer next to hers. she was thankful Sonic's shirt was still damp, or the heat building in her fur would have been almost unbearable.
"Soooo… you work in the castle, huh?" Sonic glanced down at her, but couldn't see her face to read her expression.
He placed his right hand on her waist, shifting her back towards him, and hooked his foot around her back leg to drag her into place. He thought he heard a small gasp as she suddenly fell into position guided by his body, but he couldn't be sure.
"I can't tell you that!" she breathed, and Sonic smiled. He could hear the exasperation in her voice. Stubborn, she was.
"And why not? It's just me, Ames," he goaded, shifting her again into her fighting stance before releasing her. "Do it a few times on your own," he commanded, and stepped a pace away.
His eyes slid down her frame as she practiced. He did it to check her form, but he couldn't help the deep inhale he took as he really looked at her body for the first time. She was muscular, he could tell that much easily, and heat rushed through his stomach as her legs, hidden by baggy trousers that were clearly made for men, slid in and out of her defensive stance.
"Just you?" Amy scoffed, trying not to move too self-consciously. "And who are you, exactly?"
She had him there. It seemed to him like she would be a harder nut to crack than he thought.
"How about this," Sonic said, coming around to face her as she kept working. "I tell you something about me, then you tell me something about you. A trade!" He lunged slowly at her, and she moved to defend herself from the knife using the stance he had just taught her.
There they were, face to face again. Amy looked apprehensively into his eyes and found only a sincere and charming curiosity in them.
"You talk first, then," she conceded. She could always tell half-truths to keep from lying, which was not her strongest skill. "Are you a…" Amy hesitated.
"…Heartthrob?" he finished with a playful smirk.
"Criminal," Amy countered bluntly. She smiled sadly at him and he furrowed his brow, lunging slowly at her again. She blocked him.
"I prefer… 'resourceful,'" Sonic said, already regretting his offer. He would get information, but he would also have to give it. It wasn't his favorite thing in the world to dredge up the tragedies of his past - he much preferred to live in the present.
"But, by your standards… Yes, I am a thief," he admitted.
"So I can't trust you," Amy said, tilting her head challengingly, still locked in position with him. Sonic returned her look with sincerity, and she couldn't hide her surprise at how his expression moved her.
"On the contrary," he said. "I am, perhaps, the one thief you can trust."
A beat of silence passed between them, a mutual vulnerability entering their circle. Then, he lunged at her again, just a bit quicker, and she blocked him just as fast.
"We'll see about that," Amy said, and Sonic smiled.
"I don't blame you - it's smart to be wary of strangers. But you'll come around." He brightened up, lunging again. "You'll be falling for me in no time - come on, how could you not love this face?" He hit her with a goofy grin and she rolled her eyes at his deflection. They practiced the block again, faster.
"Alright, now you," he said. "You seem intelligent, Ames - what's a smart woman like you doing something as dumb as entering the Tournament of Champions? Got a death wish or something?" This wasn't his original question and it definitely wouldn't get him the useful information he needed for Silver's rescue, but curiosity got the better of him. It was an honest question.
Amy thought for a moment. Plenty of things crossed her mind as they continued to practice the parry - lots of things she couldn't tell him, but wanted to for some reason.
"I… need to prove myself," she said simply, grunting as she lunged to block Sonic. They were practicing up to speed now.
Sonic shook his head, nose to nose with her as they clashed.
"Not an answer - too vague," he countered, "but I'll let you try again after you learn this next move." He winked at her and she groaned.
"Do you ever behave like a normal person? All this winking and teasing - you're insufferable!" she complained.
She only half meant it. She mostly wanted him to quit so she didn't have to spend so much time worrying about whether or not she was blushing.
"I think you mean incomparable? Perhaps, indescribably alluring?" Sonic said, and moved around her again, taking up her hammer once more. He trapped her between his arms, his hands on either end of the staff of her weapon.
"When dealing with small weapons, you'll almost certainly be in close combat. Do you have experience with that?" he asked.
Amy shook her head but said nothing. Shadow only ever trained her with his sword. She suddenly felt overwhelmed thinking about how many different techniques and fighting styles would be waiting for her in the ring. She willed herself to focus, but it was hard when she could feel the rhythm of Sonic's gentle heartbeat on her back, reverberating around her chest and deep into her own heart.
"No problem," Sonic said, twisting her again. He set her up in another defensive maneuver, this time using the head of her hammer to create space between her and her foe. "You have this… comically unwieldy weapon - use it." He released her again, biting his lip as he did, fighting against the urge to shiver at the sudden cold that was slowly freezing his damp shirt.
"Show me this position a few times - and try again on that tournament of Champions thing," he commanded, standing back to put his hands on his hips and watch her.
"What if… I told you it was complicated?" Amy said earnestly after a moment of deliberation. "And that I wasn't sure if I should tell you, for your own sake?" She moved her hammer into the defensive position, and finally spared a glance at him. She was shocked to find him watching her intently and became momentarily distracted by his eyes. They were the same, she thought absently. The exact same eyes, same expression, from in her dream. Kind, unserious, full of courage… Dangerous.
"I would say you're smart," Sonic said measuredly, "but I would also say that something like that is probably a heavy secret to keep."
"Hmm," she mused. "You're right - on both accounts."
"But you still won't tell me?"
"Of course not!" She stood up straight again and looked at him expectantly.
"Right," he sighed, "Well, I'll be here when you're ready. But as punishment for your unwillingness to play my game - drills!"
Amy groaned. He instructed her to run through several conditioning exercises meant to build stamina, and they chatted as she ran laps, built strength, and shadow-boxed with him. As a thief, Sonic was an expert at speed and finesse, two things, he noted as she worked, that Amy lacked severely.
Amy dodged Sonic's questions about her palace job by agreeing that she did work for the palace, that she knew the Princess, and that she would be able to learn more about Sonic's friend's condition easily. Sonic wasn't convinced he had really learned anything about Amy while she talked, but he dodged her questions back with incessant flirting, promises that he had no real loyalty to the thieves camp he lived in, and redirecting the conversation to Amy's form and technique.
They were dancing around each other verbally, waiting for one or the other to give in - to give the other some small, full truth that would signal a willingness to take advantage of their anonymity and the safety created by the glade for just the two of them.
That night, that first night, it seemed neither was willing to give.
"Alright, let's practice some grappling techniques," Sonic said finally, after he was satisfied with how tired she looked. Amy was sweating through her blouse despite the cold breeze. She understood now that Shadow had been kind to her during their training - taking it easy and going at her pace. Sonic, on the other hand, had no time to care if she was tired - she could tell he understood what it took to survive, what it meant to be scrappy. She could trust him to prepare her to fight for her life in the ring, no punches pulled.
"You did a good job analyzing me before acting yesterday, but that was before we began to grapple," he lectured as she wiped her brow and tried to get her breath back. "You could know all the technique in the world, but it's all just useless theory if you can't figure out the right one to apply to each specific foe you face." He darted around her as he finished talking, signaling that she should get ready to face him. Amy summoned her hammer and spun, attempting to pinpoint his movements, but he was just a voice in the wind as he circled her. He ran so unfathomably fast that he created a small vortex which pulled her hat off and sent her quills whipping around in the wind.
"How might you best fight someone who's faster than you?" Sonic asked, chuckling as he watched her try to track him. His ego puffed as she tried in vain to catch him, intense determination on her face. He lunged in her direction, but in the second that his hand grabbed her arm she turned and wrenched his hand off of her, holding it in hers.
"I would," Amy grunted, swinging her hammer back with one hand and holding him in place with the other, "force him into close quarters combat, where he can't get away." She smiled devilishly and swung ferociously around, bringing her hammer with her. Sonic thought she might go to hit him again as he brought out his knife, but was pleased to find his attempt to lunge at her blocked by the very maneuver he had taught her earlier.
He cleared his throat, trapped by her hand and her hammer, a smile dancing on his lips.
"That's exactly right," he congratulated. He tried to pull his hand away from her, but her grip was iron and she held him in place.
"You are strong, Ames, I'll give you that. Could I get my hand back, though?" He chuckled.
Amy released him embarrassedly, grumbling an apology.
Sonic took a deep, steadying breath. Things were about to get a little… intimate, and he was suddenly anxious in a way he had never been before.
"Now, let's learn some close quarters escape maneuvers - just in case your grapple gets turned around on you," he said, opening his arms and beckoning her towards him. "Is it alright if I grab onto you?"
"Okay…" she said, approaching him slowly. She couldn't help the small breath that escaped her lips as he quickly and suddenly swept her into his arms, pressing her back to his chest, locking her in place with his surprisingly strong arms.
"Yesterday," he said slowly, his hot breath hitting her ear, "you had me trapped - like this." He gripped her tighter, his arm underneath her chest.
"Escaping is all about controlling the momentum of the other person, and disarming them," he said calmly, working overtime to keep his voice steady. Every move she made against him sent heat surging through his stomach. His body's reaction to hers shocked him, but he told himself it was just biological. Sonic was not afraid to admit that Amy was a beautiful woman, but he was afraid to even think about acting on it.
"Yesterday, I started by rolling us over. Now, that might be hard for you because -" he couldn't finish the thought. The air was pushed from his lungs as the world spun around him and he hit the ground hard. He felt her weight press into him, the sharp elbow in his side, and suddenly her boot was on his chest, hammer pointed at him.
Sonic was beginning to get used to this view.
"Huh," he said, sucking in a ragged breath, "you're a natural."
"You keep underestimating me," Amy said. He couldn't see her face well behind her weapon, but her tone stung with frustration. He pushed her hammer aside and sat up. She looked angry.
"…You're right, an old habit I guess." It was a lame apology, Sonic knew. He rubbed his neck sheepishly. "But you can always use that to your advantage in the tournament - your opponents will surely expect nothing from a fighter of your… stature." He stood and brushed himself off. "You know, you have a hell of a temper."
"I do not!" She glared at him, nostrils flaring.
"Alright hothead, sure you don't. Now lay on the ground," he commanded, laughing.
Amy shot him a wary glance and didn't budge.
"C'mon, Ames," Sonic sighed, "you need to learn these grappling positions. And I'm not going to try anything, I promise - on my life." he assured and crossed his heart performatively.
She grumbled something he couldn't quite make out, but dematerialized her hammer and lay on her back.
"- And it's Amy to you!" she huffed loudly, hoping her quills didn't look too much a mess splayed in the grass.
"Don't freak out, I'm going to get on top of you - is that alright?" he said, as he stepped over her.
Amy was mortified as she nodded.
She wasn't a prude, she had been intimate with men before. But for some reason, with Sonic, she couldn't help but feel immensely vulnerable as she stared up at him, his knees now straddling her hips, his body blocking the moon from her sight. He wasn't touching Amy in a single spot, Sonic made sure of that, but her skin was on fire, nevertheless.
"Uh," Sonic tried desperately to find his train of thought as she met his eyes, but his mind was having trouble processing anything except her flushed cheeks and parted lips.
"Planning on doing any teaching, casanova?" she breathed.
He cleared his throat and they both looked away from each other sheepishly. He offered her his best apologetic smile, but Amy enjoyed that he, too, was finally blushing.
"Right. Now," he took a deep breath, his quills falling onto his back and over his shoulder, "there are a few ways to escape being pinned -"
They wrestled timidly for another hour, touching each other gingerly and asking for permission excessively. Sonic usually wasn't this hesitant with women, and he couldn't place why he was so overly gentle with Amy as he showed her how to escape several different types of full-body pins. He paid attention every time he made physical contact with her and tried not to think about how she swallowed hard when his hand traced down her arm, held her waist, or even moved her legs around his body. His own heart was beating fast, his senses on fire as he tried to take in the stimuli of her, her body, her reactions, and in turn temper his own responses for her sake.
As the night turned deep and dark, Sonic finally pushed himself up from the ground and looked down at her, her blouse sweat and grass-stained, her quills messy, and decided she had enough for the evening. Amy yawned as Sonic extended a hand to help her up, which she took instinctively.
"We should finish up," he glanced at her. "Beauty sleep and all that, right?"
"Yes, if I don't get enough rest I'll wither and die like a flower without water," Amy said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
They stood awkwardly for a beat, not sure how to recover from their intimacy.
Amy had one more thing she needed from him before she left, but had no idea how to go about broaching the subject.
"But I do have a favor to ask..." she began, shuffling her feet.
"Sure, Ames, hit me," Sonic stretched casually, readying himself for the quick run back to camp.
Amy took a breath. She needed to ask this of him, and she was fairly certain he was a safe enough man, but the voice in her head screamed that she had known him for only a day. Her heart, in response, replayed how gently he had manipulated her body as they wrestled, and how he apologized when he thought he might have touched her too harshly. She knew, bottom line, that she needed a solution, and resolved to just keep her clothes on and hammer out.
"Would you… stand watch while I bathe?" Amy said in a rush. "I can't just appear in the morning grimy from fighting. My - the other ladies-in-waiting would get suspicious - and so I thought I'd use the pond, but I don't want to be, y'know, unprotected just in case someone stumbles on this place so… you just have to turn around, and I'll be quick - I promise!" She tumbled over her words, hands clenched in front of her.
Sonic's mouth opened briefly before he thought better of joking and swallowed his words. He chuckled and turned away quickly, crossing his arms.
"Of course, Ames," he took a deep breath and did his best to turn off his mind as he heard the soft shuffle of her feet and the sound of rippling water.
"Do you… like being a thief?" Amy asked lamely as she began to wring the dirt out of her clothes and quills, not sure if it would be more awkward for them to talk or stay silent.
"Can't answer, you didn't play my questions game fairly," he responded quickly.
"Fine then," she huffed, "see how you like hanging with a total stranger every night for the next two months."
Sonic smiled and looked down at his dirty boots, thinking about her question earnestly.
"I don't care about being a thief," he said after a beat. "I care about my friends, and I care about living a life of adventure. I just… take or leave the rest as I please."
Amy nodded as she scrubbed out the fur on her face, the cold water burning her skin, feeling heavy from her waterlogged clothes. "I crave a life of adventure, too."
"I can tell - you're on quite some adventure now it seems." Sonic struck a pose, his hand in the air like he had made a discovery. "I'll get you to tell me more about this adventure yet, Amy!" He heard her laugh at his theatrics, and the sound lit him up inside.
"Nothing to tell really," Amy said, looking down with guilt. "You are the adventure - or at least, you're a big piece of it now."
She emerged from the water shaking, trying to get the cold drops from her hair, and whistled her horse to her.
"All clear," she called to Sonic.
Sonic turned and stopped himself from looking her up and down instinctively. He smiled at her tousled hair and stifled a laugh at her puffed-out fur.
"Now your clothes are all wet," he commented as she reached for the reins of her horse.
Sonic moved towards her unconsciously, and felt her jump slightly in his hands as he gently took her by her waist and boosted her into the saddle. Amy settled into her riding position and looked down at him.
"Like I was going to take my clothes off for you," she scoffed.
Sonic laughed in pleasant surprise at her vulgarity, but realized he shouldn't have been so shocked. She was something else, this woman.
"Want me to see you home?" he offered.
Amy was touched by the gentlemanly gesture. She was tempted to accept, too, but knew that she couldn't very well take him to the castle. He would find her out in an instant or worse: get in trouble. She didn't want to lose another trainer so soon.
"I could make another joke about that, too," she smiled gently.
"Well, I wish you would," Sonic said with a playful smile, and handed her cap up to her.
Amy turned from him to hide her blush as she took it. It was so easy to joke with him, to let her guard down and fall into step with his banter and his smile. She would have to be wary about how much she revealed to him in the coming days - it would be easy to slip up in front of him. But, she imagined, that was why he made such a good thief to begin with.
"Safe travels, Sonic… And goodnight."
"Until tomorrow!" he grinned. She snapped the reins and left, quills flying in the wind. Sonic watched her go until she fully disappeared from the glade, and sighed contentedly as he turned to run back to camp.
A/N: Ahhhhhhhh the tension. God I love it. Enjoy this food in preparation for the first ep of Sonic Prime, coming out tomorrow. Ahhhh! Here's to hoping that we get to keep eating good!
