Chapter 7
Sonic couldn't help but laugh. That night, as soon as she slipped off her horse, Amy greeted him by barreling toward him with infectious amounts of enthusiasm. She called his name with such delighted abandon that he could only really describe the sight of her as… adorable.
Sonic wasn't quite sure what to do with himself as Amy rocketed toward him. She didn't appear to be slowing her run, and the grin on her face was practically delirious with excitement. He unconsciously braced himself, settling into a defensive stance, unsure whether to open his arms and prepare to catch her or to dodge - it truly seemed like she was gearing up to take a flying leap at him.
She charged into his arms, jostling him as she hit his chest. Both of them staggered back as he absorbed her momentum, buffering her from running straight into a tree.
"You'd be so proud of me," Amy caught her breath and took his hands in hers, grinning at him from under her usual pageboy cap. "I… was like you! I snuck!"
"Oh?" he smiled down at her, not minding that she had knocked the wind from his lungs momentarily. The energy of her moods was always so big, so boisterous, he couldn't help but be dazzled by the raw force of her emotion.
"I met Silver, and Blaze, too. Do you know her?"
Sonic considered the name, vaguely aware that Amy's hands were still pressed in his.
"Yeah, I think I've heard of her," he said with a shrug. "Silver mentioned her a few times. He said that he left the love of his life when he came to camp. He was biding his time, waiting for her and doing some good while he could. He told me he proposed to her before I met him, but she rejected him. He was never once mad about it or upset, though. He seemed to feel very certain they would be together someday."
Suddenly, Amy's eyes were sparkling. She squeezed Sonic's hands gently.
"That's… beautiful." She looked down and finally released Sonic to discreetly wipe her eyes. "They seemed so close - she takes care of him in the dungeons - but she didn't tell me that they were… almost engaged."
Sonic would usually roll his eyes right about then, but Amy's voice was so sweet. She looked genuinely touched. He chuckled lightly at her, and pulled at his bandana uncomfortably.
"'Beautiful'? Bit of a waste, don't you think? I always told him to move on," he said with a shrug.
Amy looked up at him, her smile slipping from her face. "But… he said that you told him to pursue finding her?"
"I told Silver to find love again, to move on," Sonic corrected. "I didn't really believe he would find her again."
Amy blinked, disappointment blooming in her chest. "I… didn't realize you were that cynical."
Sonic fully scoffed at her, pulling off his leather doublet and hanging it on a branch to prepare for the start of training.
"Me? Cynical? No way!" he said, caught off guard by the word. "Ask any of my friends, they'd tell you I'm the most optimistic guy they know!"
"More like most annoying," Amy huffed.
Sonic turned back to her, watching her mood clearly and quickly shift drastically from the effervescent greeting he had received earlier. A small part of him even felt a little guilty that he had somehow let her down and consequently stolen her smile from her. Though, that was nothing a little teasing couldn't fix.
"That kind of cheek will earn you 50 push-ups, my dear lady. Hit the deck!" Sonic laughed as Amy shot him a glare and lowered herself to the ground to start on her punishment.
She had spent all day thinking of Sonic fondly, waiting excitedly to see him and talk of… love. She had been so happy to learn that he had depth - could believe in something as deliciously delicate as romance. But here he was, showing her that Silver had been right about one thing - Sonic was afraid. Amy thought she was starting to get an idea about what it might be that scared him, too.
"Being able to move on from things quickly doesn't mean that you're optimistic, you know," Amy grunted. "Maybe it just means that you don't trust people enough to invest in them."
Sonic bristled, not ready to start arguing with her so quickly.
"Trust is a currency we thieves don't really have the luxury to trade in." He leant against a tree, watching her warily as she moved. "Besides, Blaze had her chance, and she chose to leave Silver behind - if that isn't a sign that someone doesn't love you, I don't know what is."
"Blaze said no because she knew she wasn't ready then," Amy countered passionately. "It didn't mean she would never be. Her father had just told her she would never inherit the family smithy. She needed to go find herself, find a new purpose. In her own way, she was working every day to become the person she thought Silver deserved. And besides," Amy grunted, losing her breath from speaking so fast and full of conviction, "a good partner knows that their significant other should be a complete person, free to ask for what they need and be supported while they pursue it."
"She's a blacksmith?" Sonic asked, skipping over any more talk of relationships as casually as he could.
"A pyrotechnic, too," Amy said, pausing her exercise to look at him knowingly.
"Just a thought…" she continued, catching his eye, "but maybe you don't trust people because you think that they're the ones always coming and going - that they leave. But really, maybe it's you that leaves them every time. Because you're afraid." Silver's voice rang in her head. She wanted to know what Sonic was afraid of, wanted to see if she struck a chord.
"Alright, alright," Sonic waved his hand, feeling the itch of irritation rising in him as he looked away. "Save your psycho-analysis for another time - what about Silver?" he prompted.
"Oh," Amy's breathing got heavier as she resumed her push-ups. Beads of sweat began to form under her cap as she dug her hands into the earth and contracted her shoulder muscles, pushing herself up and down, up and down. "He's in good hands with Blaze. The best time to bust him out will be the night before his execution - at the end of next week. He'll be in a holding chamber on the first floor, but - " she paused and caught her breath, straining and grunting to keep pushing her body. She could imagine Sonic's smirk at her as she struggled. "He's in these special shackles for some reason. There's only one key copy, and they're in the warden's office."
"Silver is telekinetic. Once we get him free of those chains, he'll be able to help us with the rest of the escape - it'll be a much easier operation from then," Sonic said as Amy grunted from the ground. "What's the guard situation like? And how possible is it for you to get the keys from the warden without appearing suspicious?"
"Easy," Amy huffed without thinking.
Sonic's ears twitched.
Amy wasn't a trained thief. She didn't know when to withhold information - when to say just a bit more or just a bit less than the truth to keep it trapped, like smoke, in a glass. She kept lifting the lid of the jar without knowing - letting bits of smoke escape in telling puffs.
"Easy?" Sonic asked pointedly. "To get into the warden's chamber, get a key, and leave without appearing suspicious? Without appearing treasonous?"
Amy said nothing, just continued sweating and breathing, searching desperately in her mind for an excuse.
"Is he your suitor or something? Your husband?" Sonic asked, trying to keep his voice level - disinterested.
Amy's elbows buckled in shock. She collapsed on the ground and looked up at him, panting, and began to laugh.
"Oh, no. I am not spoken for -" Yet, she added in her head. "I was merely saying…" she trailed off, not sure how to cover this up. She stood and prolonged answering by dusting herself off. She took her cap from her head and wiped her brow, her pink quills tumbling down from where they had been tucked.
"How old are you?" Sonic asked, rolling his sleeves up. He hoped he appeared more casual about her answer then he felt, but even he heard genuine curiosity seeping through his tone.
"Why do you want to know? Want to lecture me about how I should be married already, too?" Amy spit the words out with more than a little vehemence.
Another puff of smoke, another sparkle of truth. Sonic knew immediately he had pushed a button.
"Not at all… it's just that you're…" He didn't want to say 'old' because he didn't think that she was, but her marital status did betray another oddity of her life. He changed tactics. "Is your mom on your case or something?" Sonic asked, quirking an eyebrow at her.
"... No," Amy said quietly, but did not offer anything else up. She didn't feel like talking about her dead mother tonight. Not when she had been so happy earlier. She wanted desperately to drop this whole interrogation and go back in time so she could hold tighter to that happiness. She didn't want to be disappointed with Sonic. She liked the feeling of being happy near him infinitely better.
"About the keys…" she said. "I just meant that… I'm not a nobody in the castle. I'm of high enough standing that I could… blame it on the Princess, and no one would ask questions." She was getting uncomfortable. Amy could feel the whole truth creeping up in her throat, only an inch away from spilling out. It horrified her that she actually kind of wanted to just let the messy truth of her life come ripping violently through their shared sacred space. Clearly, she was getting too close to him. Which was odd, Amy thought, because she actually felt like they were still so achingly far away from each other.
"That big, huh?" Sonic whistled. His heart raced a bit - this connection was bigger than he had initially thought. Someone so close to the Princess… Well, he always had been a lucky bastard.
Amy said nothing. She would let Sonic come to his own conclusions, hoping they would be the wrong ones. She knew well that the mind preferred to think of everything else first before landing on a difficult truth, hoping it not to be reality.
"As for the guards," Amy said to change the subject, "there will be a lot of them. Mostly outside the castle and blocking the door to the chamber. It might be too many for -"
"Leave the guards to my friends and I, and I'll leave the key to you," Sonic said, gazing at her thoughtfully. She always gave him so much - too much, in his opinion - to think about.
"You can't tell -"
"Don't worry," Sonic held up a hand, "I won't tell them any more about you then they need to know. A little faith please, Ames?" Sonic teased.
Her eyes widened suddenly and she turned to jog back to her horse. "Oh, I almost forgot! I brought something for today, too!" she called.
Sonic took a deep breath as she left. He wondered how he could already be reeling after not even a half hour of being near her. He felt so much - excited by her information, annoyed by her prodding, proud at her successful mission, happy to be near her… He tried to sigh it all away before she could get back and make him think about even more complicated things and feel even more layered feelings, but to his great frustration he didn't feel any less burdened by the time she returned.
Amy came back carrying a bulky chest plate and arm guards. The top pieces in a set of armor.
Sonic looked at her quizzically, his eyebrow raised. "How'd you manage to get your hands on that? You sure you aren't a thief?"
Amy chuckled. "My first trainer got them for me. He…" she hesitated.
"Was a knight?" Sonic guessed.
"Is a knight," Amy nodded, not looking at him.
Sonic's eyes glazed over as Amy turned to don the chestplate. He wondered if she and her knight were close. And… How close? Why would the man risk his life and his reputation for her wild dream to win the tournament? And Amy's inability to meet his eyes at the mere mention of the knight had Sonic feeling some type of way - it was like anger and confusion mixed into something else. And he felt it directly at whoever that stupid knight was.
"Strap me in?" Amy asked.
Sonic's eyes snapped up. He hadn't realized he had been so lost in thought.
Amy's stolen armor looked bulky on her. It fell stiffly on her body, fitting too small or too big in odd places. Sonic slowly burst into riotous laughter as he took in the sight - and a sight she certainly was. In the chestplate, she looked like a child playing dress-up, swallowed whole by something that just... didn't seem right on her.
"You look absolutely ridiculous!" Sonic wheezed. Amy's ears went pink.
"Oh, shut up and strap me in," she grumbled. "It's not my fault that they only make these things for men."
Sonic wiped a tear away as he stepped toward her. She turned around and he adjusted the straps as best he could so the heavy steel balanced on her shoulders only a little less awkwardly. As he pulled on the leather, it occurred to Sonic that Amy probably did this every day. Well, not this exactly - but she most certainly was laced into corsets and dresses in the palace at least, he had no doubt about that. Looking at her in her trousers and the armor, though, he just couldn't picture it.
"Your knight," Sonic said with a sneer that was half for comedic effect and half sincere, "tell him he's done a shit job training you. What're they teaching the members of the guard these days?" He meant it as a joke to lighten the mood, but he wouldn't have minded if the guy were there to hear him say it, either.
"I almost hit you with my hammer when we first met, didn't I?" Amy retorted, feeling a little protective of Shadow.
"Well, if you had kept training like a knight for three months until the tournament, there's no way you would have won," Sonic said simply. It was true, he knew she wasn't a winner yet.
Amy turned to him, his hands coming off of her abruptly as she spun. "And why not?" she demanded.
"Because," Sonic reasoned, "everyone in the tournament will be a knight. They'll all be fighting like knights." Sonic took her armor straps in his hands once again and tugged on them. This armor would be impossible for her to win in, he knew it, but he adjusted it for her as best he could all the same. "Only you will be fighting like a thief."
Amy nodded. She thought about the letter she had written just that morning, how she had felt she was moving forward without Shadow.
"Everything about you will be unexpected to them," Sonic said, his fingers fiddling idly with the leather. He glanced at her, and found her staring intently up at him. He meant only to see if she was listening, but got stuck staring into her bright eyes.
He inhaled sharply under the scrutiny of her gaze, his hands finally stilling, and said, "You will sneak in there, like a thief, and steal the win right out from under their stupid, rich noses."
He finished with her straps and, without thinking, brushed a stray quill from her face softly.
Suddenly realizing what he had done, his fingertips grew white hot and he withdrew quickly. It had been a long, long time since he had felt so… boyish. Trying to act like he hadn't just been caught doing something he knew shouldn't have been doing. Enjoying the feeling of something he shouldn't be enjoying.
"Sorry," he stammered, sure that he was in for a well-deserved berating for the boldness of his gesture.
Instead, Amy smiled at him. The happiness returned to her pleasantly - a dancing feeling deep in her stomach.
More than what he had just done, which Amy was trying to push into the back of her mind before she could blush, she lingered on Sonic's words. His support.
Despite all his bravado, his slippery way with words, and his cynicism, there was a romantic somewhere in Sonic. And a dreamer. And a caretaker. And so much more that she wanted dearly to uncover in that moment. She could see that it was all so clearly and wonderfully there within him, if only he were willing to let it out. Amy knew she couldn't do that work for him, but she was pleased to know that all her newfound goodwill toward him hadn't been totally unfounded.
In the beat of silence, Amy tried to find the right words to thank him. She wanted to tell him how she was so grateful for everything he was doing. She wanted to put words to what she was beginning to suspect: that she would never win the Tournament without him - without what he was doing for her. She opened her mouth to say just that, but he cut her off. It was like the man had a radar for sensing when things were about to get too serious for his liking.
"- But it'll never happen if I don't get a little effort out of you, so c'mon Ames, let's see some sweat!"
With that, their closeness dissipated like fog and Sonic jogged away from her as if nothing had happened at all.
Sonic ran her through their drills. On this night, their fourth night, Amy felt that maneuvers came easier to her. Her body acted on instinct. With the movements engrained in her muscles, her mind was free to focus on the battle. To think of strategy and grapple with the obstacle of her ridiculous, clunky armor.
They laughed as they trained, trading blows and talking through stances with familiarity. To Sonic, the banter between them was more comforting now. It scared him, feeling so settled into something with one person, but she kept him on his toes with her questions, her moods, and - of course - her hammer. He could almost forget the heat in his body from the day before, his dreams, and the thing that he dreaded every night buzzing in the back of his head: when, at the end of every lesson, Amy stopped him before he could run of so she could have her -
"- bath?" she asked at the end of their lesson. She pulled the chestplate over her head, revealing her sweaty blouse clinging to her body, and dumped the armor noisily on the ground. Sonic sighed and scratched his head, turning on his heel to face her, his other hand deep in his pocket.
"Riiight," he said, his eyes running over her quickly. "Sorry, I - forgot."
Amy stared at him blankly, and he stared back. She cleared her throat and glanced at the pond.
"Oh!" Sonic jumped. "Right, right! Uh… sorry - again." He turned back around promptly, mentally face-palming at his own uncharacteristic blathering.
The water splashed. She sighed. His fur stood on end as he tried not to listen too intently.
"What's camp like?" Amy said. It wasn't a question this time, it was a demand.
"It's a five star stay!" Sonic joked, rubbing his arms to calm the goosebumps running along his skin. He hadn't realized how cold the nights were getting. His sweat from their training turned chilly and he shivered, feeling damp.
"Why join up if it's really that bad?"
"Sometimes, bad things can look pretty good by comparison. Or at least… like the most tolerable option out of a bunch of bum choices," Sonic said, and tempered the impulse to turn around to talk to her.
"Silver said he met you over 5 years ago. So you were there at the camp - a thief - since you were at least, what? 25?"
Sonic scoffed. "You think I'm 30? Gee, thanks."
"Well, it's hard to know! Since you behave like a 15-year-old..."
Sonic flinched as he heard a splash, and something cold and wet splattered against his back. It was just a spray, but still, she had splashed him. He laughed.
"You're lucky I'm a gentleman and won't turn around, otherwise you'd be in so much trouble for that."
Amy ignored him, scrubbing out her quills. "Ok, so younger than 30. You had to have been around when Scourge took over, when everyone got busted. How long did you live there before that happened?"
"I didn't realize this was an interrogation," Sonic said, shaking himself off gently.
"I just… want to know you."
Sonic froze. She said it so simply, so genuinely, that Sonic thought for a moment maybe it could be that simple. Maybe he could just tell her about himself, and this time it wouldn't make his whole body ache to talk about all the losses he had suffered. This time he wouldn't die a little inside when she, too, left him after he poured so much into her. His hand slipped into the pocket of his doublet absent-mindedly.
"Sonic?" Amy prompted.
He jumped. Her voice came from right behind him. How she had snuck up on him, he didn't know. He whirled on her, looking down at her flushed cheeks and dripping quills.
"Sorry, I didn't - You're… shaking?" He cut himself off when he realized it. She was full-body trembling, from the cold most likely he thought.
"It's nothing," Amy said with a dismissive wave.
Sonic sighed. "Sure it isn't. You're lucky I'm a gentleman," he said again, shrugging off his leather doublet for the second time that night.
"Oh, I don't -" she began to protest, but Sonic simply wrapped his jacket around her, pulling the front tight around her shivering form. As he closed the doublet around her, he accidentally drew her a bit closer to him. Thrown off balance, Amy took a step forward to steady herself.
They were close again. Being pulled into each other's orbit seemed to come so naturally to them; both so frighteningly willing to submit to the strange, unruly gravity that beckoned them closer together. Sonic held onto the front of the jacket even after it was securely on her, keeping her trapped within arm's reach. He didn't know why he didn't let her go, but he wanted to stare into her eyes, study her face, just a bit longer.
"I…" Amy said, her words coming out in a soft breath, "I thought that you were helping Silver escape because you believed he and Blaze deserved to be together. Because you believed in… love." She felt silly admitting it.
Sonic shook his head. "It's more than that," he said. "Silver is my friend, and he deserves freedom - a full life. If that's with Blaze, so be it. But no one needs a reason to have the chance at a life full of happiness."
Amy studied him, searching his face. Warmth spread from the center of her chest as he spoke, despite the cold that soaked through to her bones from her dip in the pond. She reached up, breaking his hold on the jacket, and touched his cheek. Sonic managed to stifle the instinct to jolt away from her, but couldn't stop the quiet breath that flew from his lips.
"Your eye looks better," she murmured and thumbed the cut on his cheek, already healing and hidden by his tan fur.
"Oh, uh…" Sonic stammered. To his confusion, all he could bring himself to do was stand rooted to the spot, transfixed by her stare. Thankfully for him, Amy pulled away.
"I'll bring this back to you tomorrow night," she promised with a grateful smile.
"You better," Sonic swallowed, trying to regain his sense of cool. He wanted desperately to think of one final joke, something stupid to leave the conversation with, but his brain was fritzing.
Somehow, Amy had left him speechless.
"Goodnight, Sonic," Amy said. She pulled his jacket onto her arms as she walked away and mounted up. Sonic watched her go as long as he could - as he always did - to make sure she left safely. And then he did the only thing he knew he could always count on to bring him comfort.
He turned and ran.
Amy was so tired after she finally got back to the castle, returned her horse to the stable, and snuck into her room, that she collapsed into bed still wearing Sonic's doublet. It was the most comfortable thing she had ever felt, well worn-in but still sturdy. The jacket swallowed her in a sea of leather and fur lining.
She curled into it as she got comfortable in her bed, submitting to the tug in her stomach that wanted to breathe in the smell of the jacket deeply, to let herself feel safe in something that was… his. It smelled of cut grass and campfire smoke.
Him, she thought. She pulled it tight around her, delicately tracing the lining, the buttons, all the patches and repair work.
Her fingers slipped into the right pocket, and her heart leapt when she felt something there. She pulled a small object out, examining it in the scant moonlight.
It was a gold band. A simple ring.
Amy squinted at it, turning it over in her fingers, and her heart began to race. There was an inscription on the inside, barely visible in the darkness.
An eternal love, it read. With an accompanying date.
Amy clutched the gold ring to her chest, breathing deeply to try and calm herself. Was Sonic married? Did he have a lover he was planning on proposing too? Panic came to her in the form of stinging tears behind her eyes, a reaction which shocked her greatly.
She held the ring up between her thumb and forefinger, and squinted at the date again. She did some mental calculations.
No, she sighed away her anxiety and shook her head at herself. The date was from long ago, before Sonic was even alive.
She realized she must be holding an heirloom, something charged with emotional value. She rolled the ring in her palm again, wanting to treat it with the utmost respect. She pulled herself out of bed, still wearing the doublet, and found an extra chain in her vanity. She looped the chain through the ring and pulled it loosely around her neck, promising herself to return it tomorrow. Amy committed the date and the words to memory, repeating them over and over in her mind like a mantra as she fell asleep, still wrapped in Sonic's jacket.
An eternal love.
At the camp, Knuckles greeted Sonic with raised eyebrows as he emerged silently in their tent. Tails was asleep and didn't wake up. His soft snores underscored a familiar chorus of sounds - cicadas in the trees, the crackling of dying firelight, the wind in the trees making the leaves crinkle.
"You… leave something behind tonight?" Knuckles said, sitting up on his elbows. His thin blanket fell off his bare chest, and he shivered.
Sonic ignored him, laying on his back without bothering to undress. He put his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling of the tent. He could see the stars through a tear in the canvas. His hand moved unconsciously to where his pocket would have been, and he suddenly remembered that he had given away his jacket that night. Given away his most prized possession. Sonic closed his eyes and sighed.
"I'm going to need you, man," he whispered.
"Come again?" came Knuckles' gravelly reply.
Sonic turned to look at him. "We can get Silver, but I'm going to need your help."
Knuckles shook his head, his chest puffed out. "He got himself in trouble, he can get himself out."
"What can I do to convince you to help me? To care about something other than yourself?" Sonic asked, his voice tinged with frustration.
"Just get the double portion we owe Scourge, and then I'll think about it. Scratch my back, I'll scratch yours."
Sonic sighed again, this time more dramatically, and turned over, muttering about how that was gross and he wanted nothing to do with Knuckles' back. But at least it was something. Sonic stewed uncomfortably about what could be done… Maybe he could talk to Amy about it, he thought. Surely, she would be willing to help him out?
Behind him, he heard Knuckles settle back down to sleep. Sonic shut his eyes tightly. No, Amy was already risking her job - whatever it was - and her life by helping him. If things started going missing from the castle and someone noticed, she might not even live long enough to make it to the Tournament of Champions.
Sonic fell asleep fitfully still thinking on all his worries, and dreamt of a future that was thick like fog in front of him.
He tossed and turned. In his dream, he walked towards a figure that he could just barely make out through the fog. No matter how hard he walked or ran, he didn't feel like he was getting any closer to the mysterious form in the distance. He could feel himself growing desperate as he ran hard, thinking more and more that it was urgent - imperative - that he reach the figure now. He woke up sure that he had cried out angrily in his sleep, the fear and frustration of not being able to reach the person etched deep in his body. The dream rattled him, and though he would tell himself all of the next day that this wasn't true - that he was being silly and making things up - he thought he recalled the figure in his dream emitting a soft, pink glow.
Sonic lingered all day on one heart-stopping moment from his dream. The rose-colored angel had turned to face him, and he had been blinded by the glint of something as they moved.
He only truly realized what it was that had blinded him when he awoke: a gold ring given willingly away that very night, sitting innocently on the angel's finger. A perfect fit.
A/N: Oooooh a gold ring? Things are heating up!
