Chapter 19

"I am not doing this!" Knuckles roared once Amy was out of the glen that night. "I don't care if we have to run away, I don't care if we starve. I am not going to turn her in - I swore to keep her safe, and I refuse to go back on that."

Knuckles glowered at Sonic. "And I will fight you if I have to," he finished nobly, standing to his full, intimidating height.

"Calm down Knucklehead," Sonic sighed, raking anxious hands through his quills. "We're not going to do the job - at least not fully, ok? We're going to figure something out."

"Like what?" Knuckles challenged, still looking hopeful for a fight. "Start figuring, Sonic. We only have a couple days."

"We can… I don't know, kidnap her and bring her here instead of camp? Stay for a month out here until the tournament, and then return with a bit of dramatic flair right at the last minute?" Sonic pitched hopefully.

"And have the entire royal guard looking for us for a month while we just sit here waiting for them to find us?" Tails asked, his voice completely devoid of emotion. The fox sat on a log stiffly, picking at the bark anxiously. He kept his gaze trained squarely on the ground. "Amy knew to come here all those months ago. You don't think someone else knows about this place and might come looking?"

"Okay…" Sonic recalculated, put-off by Tails' dry criticism. "So not that, then… How about we kidnap the Princess, bring her to Scourge, bust her back out, and then get her home the next night?"

"You want to let Amy spend even one night in the camp with Scourge?" Tails said, sourly poking another hole in another plan.

"Of course I don't -"

"You want to risk injuring her right before the Tournament? Or losing her to Scourge entirely?" Tails pushed, pulling strips of bark from the log angrily.

"What's your suggestion then, Tails?" Sonic said with exasperation, quitting his pacing to wheel around and study his friend. Sonic wasn't used to Tails sounding this upset, and certainly he wasn't used to Tails ever sounding this upset at him.

"I suggest that we talk to her!" Tails said, standing with his fists curled by his sides. "Why not let her tell us what she wants? Why not let her in, Sonic?" the young man begged. "Why do any of our plans have to involve kidnapping her in the first place?"

Sonic bit his lip and turned back around. Tails was too smart for his own good. Sonic suddenly felt like he was being cornered again. He hated that feeling, but somehow, because it was Tails, this time it felt worse.

"Because I…" Sonic sighed. "Look, we can't tell her about all this - one - because she's got too much to worry about and - two - we can't risk her turning us in -"

"Sonic," Tails interrupted, pulling his new coat tight around him like it was a soft and sturdy shield. "We're not stupid. We all know she wouldn't turn us in. So come on - what are you really afraid of?"

"What's he talking about, Sonic?" Knuckles said, crossing his arm defensively as he looked between the two men.

"I want to trust your judgment, Sonic," Tails said, gesturing passionately as he stepped forward. "I want to support you, but I can't if you don't tell us what you want. What… what happened over there? On your run?"

"Nothing 'happened'," Sonic said, tapping his toe anxiously. "I think that… she wanted to tell me… Tails, I can't say it because if I do -"

"She wanted to tell you that she likes you?" Tails guessed.

Sonic smiled sadly, closing his eyes briefly in pain.

"Worse, I'm afraid," he whispered, hanging his head.

"And you?" Tails asked.

"Me?" Sonic asked in shock, his head snapping back up. Earlier on the cliffside, he hadn't even let them get to the part where Amy could say what she was thinking, let alone get to the part where he was supposed to say what he was thinking.

His fingers clenched and unclenched as he tried to figure out the right answer to the simple question.

Yes, he thought idly. And me. Then he shook his head. That thought couldn't be true, that 'yes' was just an impulse. It had to be.

Tails sighed as Sonic's expression grew cloudy and confused. "Help me understand, Sonic. Please," Tails said, holding his hands out as though maybe, if Sonic were to take them, they could find the right way forward through his mind together.

"If…" Sonic's head rolled back and he groaned with the effort it took to tell his friends the truth. "If we take her from the ball, then she won't have to… get engaged to anyone," he admitted painfully.

Knuckles and Tails looked at each other. Knuckles quirked his head, asking silently for clarification, and Tails sighed loudly through his nose, his breath coming out in a prolonged huff of steam.

"Sonic… doesn't want Amy to get engaged," Tails explained to the big man, "because he doesn't want her to… be with someone else." The 17-year-old tried to lay it out for Knuckles as carefully as he could, not wanting to tread carelessly on Sonic's fragile emotions - and the man's own, even more delicate understanding of them.

"So you did catch feelings?" Knuckles said, hitting Sonic with a protective glare.

"She doesn't want to get engaged anyway," Sonic said defensively, arguing directly to Knuckles. "We'd be doing her a favor, really! Think about it, Knuckles!"

"I'm trying," Knuckles snapped. "It seems to me like you're not thinking about it!"

"We kidnap her," Sonic pitched, pivoting bluntly from the topic of his feelings. "She doesn't have to get engaged because she's not even there at the party to make the choice. We bring her to camp so Scourge can lay eyes on her, and for not even a full night, we make sure she's okay. We never take our eyes off of her. There's three of us, someone will be by her at all times. And if we're there - if we do this job and act all loyal to the camp - maybe we can handle Scourge. We can keep his more… destructive impulses at bay. We might even convince him to let us be her keepers for the night! Then, she mysteriously busts out and disappears into the forest. She gets back home, we've technically done the job, and… and Amy doesn't have to spend a single second engaged to whichever dirtbag happens to look the cleanest on the night of the ball."

Knuckles nodded slowly, still unconvinced.

"And… Again, why can't we tell her about this plan?" Tails prodded once more.

"Because -"

"You're afraid," Knuckles accused.

"No!" Sonic said reflexively. "Well, yes - I mean yes - I'm terrified, ok? I don't… there's nowhere to go and this plan is all I can come up with, and she… I can't let her get engaged."

"Why can't we tell her?" Tails insisted.

"Damn it, Tails," Sonic cursed under his breath. "Because I know she… she wouldn't agree to do this - to be kidnapped."

"So then don't do it," Tails begged sincerely. "Do what she would want, which is -"

"What Amy wants is too much - it's something I can't give her!" Sonic said, whirling toward them desperately. "I mean - what Amy wants… She'd want to suffer through the engagement for the sake of the Kingdom, and I can't let her do that. She gives, and gives, and gives, and she's so afraid that love will break her - and I think that an engagement like that… It would. She doesn't need that, especially not right before the tournament. To live through this engagement would be her own personal hell. I know it. But I also know that she would willingly go through it for an eternity if it meant saving the people of her kingdom. So instead of giving her even the possibility of saying no… I take her away personally, I tell her on the way to camp what the plan is, and then - just like that - she's home and unengaged and can claim she needs some recovery time before moving forward. It's… it'll be -"

"Easier?" Tails scoffed at him.

"No," Sonic shook his head. "I know that this… I could lose her but… If someone has to break her… I'd rather it be me."

"So," Knuckles summed up, speaking through a clenched jaw, clearly displeased. "You're saying that by kidnapping her… we're saving her? She doesn't have to be engaged, and you don't have to watch her be engaged."

"...Maybe," Sonic said, unconvinced. He wrestled with his own, misguided mind, trying to equivocate with himself that this was the right choice.

But he well knew there were no right choices anymore. There were only options, and there was no possible way for him to know which one would keep everything, everyone he loved, still close to him and safe, tucked away under his ribs right where his heart should be.

Tails turned away from them, his fingers tearing slowly at his coat, and then his shirt and then his fur as he groaned with frustrated agony.

"I hate this!" the young man cried, turning on his friends. "It feels so… wrong. I want to do right by her - she's only ever been…" he tugged uselessly on his jacket again, hugging himself.

"I want to follow you Sonic," Tails said, voice cracking, "but it feels so hard to do that when I can see that we're heading towards… And you don't deserve to have to do this. And she doesn't deserve it either! She's too -"

"She's good," Sonic agreed, "to her core, she is good." Sonic moved swiftly to his brother to lay a warm hand on his shoulder. Sonic squeezed Tails, looking at him lovingly. Of course this was hard for Tails. He was good, too. He drew the teen in and hugged him tight, squeezing his eyes shut.

"I know that… it's all really, really bad," Sonic said. "I know that it's not right. And I'm sorry buddy, I'm sorry that it all - the world - is… cruel. But we'll be with her every second she's in the camp. And she is strong and capable and good and we'll -"

"We'll protect that," Knuckles finished, pounding his fists together resolutely. "We'll protect her, just like she protects us. No matter what."


Amy floated through the next three days in a numb stupor: Wake up, eat, train, sleep, repeat.

Her dreams were stress-induced fits of anxiety. Once, she dreamed that she had nothing to wear for the ball and had to go out in her beautiful armor, and the crowd laughed at her ridiculous outfit. Once, she dreamed that when she looked out at the people to select her fiancé, there was no one in the room save for the 80-year-old Duke of Yokely.

Once, she dreamed that Sonic held her over a cliffside, his mouth full of sharp teeth, and Amy awoke before she could tell whether he had dropped her or pulled her to safety.

Her anxiety - her frustration - stole her away from any comfort. Even seeing all the flowers arrive at the castle for the ball brought her no joy. Instead she'd stood, holding a soft bloom in her hand, stroking a petal with her thumb in quiet contemplation until she abruptly plucked it, and then pulled all the other petals out, one by one.

He loves me, he loves me not. He loves me, he loves me not.

At training she was a wreck, and the only place she ever truly felt safe was inside of her armor. She couldn't tear her eyes away from Sonic each night. Even when she managed to keep herself from gazing at him, he was all she could see in her mind. She tried to catch his eyes all the time, but just as she could not stop looking at him, he seemed to be doing everything in his power to keep from looking at her.

"He's not that dreamy. Pull yourself together," Knuckles had once whispered to her disgustedly, rolling his eyes. It made Amy smile. She was being so obvious, but she didn't care.

If she couldn't say she loved him, she still wanted Sonic to know it beyond a shadow of a doubt.

And Sonic did know. The feeling of Amy's eyes on him made him feel more seen, more special, than he ever had before. He kept himself from looking at her - he couldn't risk his resolve crumbling so close to the end - but being near her made him happy. Amy's love was a force, enveloping and weighty. It warmed him like bathing in sun rays. Her attention felt as wild and wonderful as the wind in his quills.

The four of them had agreed that their final training session would take place two days before the ball, so Amy could have the final night before getting engaged to herself. The day came up too fast, and on their last foreseeable night of training together, Amy was easily beaten by all of them in combat.

Usually, Amy could always beat Tails, and she bested Knuckles more and more - if she strategized properly. Beating Sonic was a toss-up, but neither of them had been putting their heart into their fights for quite some time. The heat of their physicality had been a beast they had avoided for months by throwing fights or attacking each other gingerly.

"Something wrong, Amy?" Tails asked, landing on the dirt a bit roughly and slinging his crossbow over his shoulder after her defeat that final evening.

Amy grumpily pulled an arrow from her clothes, ripping herself from the tree she had been pinned to by Tails' expert aim.

"Obviously, Tails," Amy huffed in frustration, and then immediately looked apologetic as she tossed the arrow to the ground. She opened her mouth, reaching toward him, but the fox held his hands up preventatively.

"Don't apologize," Tails said, approaching to help pull another arrow from near her boot. "You've… got a lot going on. Want to…" Tails hesitated for only a moment, pain flashing in his eyes. "Want to talk about it?"

"Thank you, but… I don't want to burden you," Amy sighed, smiling kindly at Tails.

"You could never," the young man said bravely.

His bravado made Amy chuckle - the kid had clearly spent too much time around Sonic.

"It's just… I would do anything for my people," Amy said as she pulled herself free of the last arrow. She held the projectile in her hand, pressing its sharp tip contemplatively to her palm. "But I just… hope I can find somebody at the ball who cares about me in some small way. I'll take even the tiniest bit of kindness. I'll take anything if it means the next month will be a little less horrible to get through." Amy sighed as Tails took the arrow from her tenderly. Hands empty, she laced her fingers together, squeezing her own hands tight for comfort.

"Maybe there is someone out there who would be a good King, and who I could learn to… love," Amy said bitterly. The sentiment tasted horrible to her, and she had not an ounce of faith in it. But she had to at least hope, or certainly she wouldn't be able to get herself out of bed for the next few days.

"Will the next month really be all that hard for you? If you were to get engaged to someone… bad?" Tails asked, sounding hopeful for a particular answer.

"My heart is… an odd and unruly beast, Tails," Amy said with a sigh and a smile, pressing her palms to her chest. She turned to look at Sonic. "Love, to me, is all I have left. I thought that I knew how painful it felt to not be loved. I've lived like that all my life. But… now that I know what it feels like to really, freely love someone so wholly… I think that being with someone who I don't love will be the hardest trial I will ever face - Tournament or not."

"Really?" Tails asked, swallowing hard.

"Really, really," Amy said sadly, feeling her stomach turn over as she watched Sonic shift his weight to one foot and stretch his arms casually, talking to Knuckles a few paces away from them.

"Love… is all that I am. It is all I have ever been. It is the center of my being and the first reason I do anything," Amy said solemnly, her eyes never straying from Sonic and his easy smile.

"And you…"

"I love him," Amy admitted proudly and quietly, nodding. She smiled as she finally spoke the words aloud for the first time. Under her warm palms, Amy felt her own heartbeat flutter.

Tails watched her out of the corner of his eye, sucking in a sharp breath as she said it.

"Amy," Tails' voice lowered and he stepped a bit closer to her. Together, they watched Sonic intently, studying the man who stood at the center of both of their lives in totally different ways.

"There's something you should understand about… Sonic," he began. "He… He moves fast but really… it just takes him longer to get where we are - at least emotionally. And there's nothing for it. Sonic moves on his own time." Tails shook his head, moving his hands expressively as he tried in vain to say what he meant. "He will get there, but it'll take time and patience from us. I guess I'm just trying to say that… I don't pretend to know what Sonic's thinking, but I do know he cares for you. When you're frustrated; when you feel like you don't know what he's doing or why… know that he's probably just trying to get there - to you - in his own way. He will arrive - one way or another, he'll get there, that's a promise. I just hope that… when the time comes, you remember that."

And then Tails picked up her hand, patted it gently, and walked away. Amy stood, baffled. His words, though they sounded comforting, felt almost like a warning. On his own time… Amy lingered on that bit. Well, she'd be ready whenever Sonic was, she knew that.

She shook the conversation from her mind and jogged over to the others.

"I think we'd better stop for the night," Sonic was saying to Knuckles. Amy immediately began to protest, waving her hands as she padded over.

"I can keep fighting!" she begged. "Please, I don't want to quit just yet."

Sonic looked her up and down incredulously. "Tails just beat you, Ames. Tails."

"Flawed practice doesn't count as practice," Knuckles agreed, and folded his arms.

"You're through, Ames - at least for tonight. Go home. You have… a lot to do in the next couple of days," Sonic said. He saw her expression darken, and felt heavy for her.

"I…" Amy looked at them all pitifully, "I can't go home yet, please. If I go home, that means that… time's up. I'll practice better - I promise."

The three men exchanged glances. The guilt flared up in Sonic's stomach like acid. She thought she would be choosing a husband in a day. She thought that he was someone she could love after all of this was over. She was so, so wrong about so many things, and she had no idea.

"What… would you have us do?" Tails asked, stepping forward to take charge of the group for the first time.

Amy smiled. Her plea was an emotional one - of course Tails would answer the call.

"How about… one more test?" Amy asked, tapping her cheek thoughtfully. "I win, I get to stay a bit longer - I lose, we're done for the night."

"We're done fighting tonight, Ames, that's a non-negotiable," Sonic said, taking a cautious step forward. "You're exhausted. You deserve - you need the rest."

"Alright, alright. No more fighting, then. That's alright. I… brought something else anyway," Amy said, a devilish glint in her eye. She looked right at Sonic, who cocked his head and raised his brows.

"Wuh-oh," Sonic said with a chuckle, sure that Amy was going to ask him to do something ridiculous; and just as sure that he would do it - do anything - for her. "If you're going to make me do something stupid - it's only fair that I get to choose the test," Sonic said, the amused arch in his brow daring her to get heated.

"Fine," Amy said, crossing her arms with a smirk. "You're on. What'll it be? Target practice? Sparring? Arm wrestle with Knuckles?"

"How about… a lift?" Sonic said as he held his knife up and twirled it in his fingers. He knew it was immature, but the glee he felt watching her smug smile falter was addicting. He winked at her happily, and then realized that their teasing had brought them closer to each other - step by step and taunt by taunt - until they were nearly touching again, cheeks flushed and feathers rumpled like it was their first time meeting.

"We'll stay here for a little while longer, but only if you can lift Knuckles' knife from him. Remember that old trick I taught you?" Sonic said, looking away from her.

Knuckles laughed his barking laugh at the thought of Amy trying to lift something off him, and Tails smiled.

"Worth a try," Amy said through gritted teeth, taking the time to glare in turn at all three men. But she turned to Sonic, determined to beat him at his own game. "But not him," she said, jutting her chin at Sonic. "You."

Sonic shrugged and nodded casually, shoving his hands into the pockets of his new coat. "Fine by me - either way practice will be over in about a minute."

Sonic prepared his nerves as best he could, but unfortunately for him the visceral memory of what had happened to his body the last time they had done this had not been dulled or quieted by the passage of time in the slightest. The mere thought of her - of her hands - had his body back tingling like she was already touching him.

He could do it, he told himself. He knew what her clumsy lifts felt like; he'd survived it once before and he could do it again. He took a deep breath and looked away from her, toward the sky, to try and neutralize the power of her stare.

He took several steps back, face pointed skyward, and made a big show of whistling while he walked, studying one particularly bright star intently. The bigger the performance, Sonic thought, the less likely they would notice when his breath inevitably hitched and his fur stood on end.

Amy approached Sonic while Knuckles and Tails stood snickering. She tried to do what he had taught her what felt like forever ago - distract and grab - but she was hopelessly unskilled at thievery. It was alright, though - that wasn't the point of this dare anyway.

As they closed in on each other, Sonic's eyes were on the night sky. But when Amy bumped into him, she reached up and firmly took his chin in her hand, pulling his face down to look at her.

"Keep their attention, right?" Amy breathed, arching an eyebrow at him as her hand slid slowly toward the knife on his belt.

Sonic blushed fiercely. He could do nothing to stop it. His lips parted so he could breathe out shallowly and quietly, and he met her eyes because she demanded that he do so. He wanted to speak back; wanted to answer her question, but he could get nothing past his lips save for his ragged, heavy breath. The corner of his mouth pulled up in a sad and adoring half-smile as he met her eyes bravely.

Surely she knew exactly what she was doing to him, holding him there with his face in her hand, tilting it downward, angling him perfectly. If she wanted to, all she had to do was pull him down to meet her. But Sonic already knew very well that Amy did want to. The look in her eyes said all that and so much more. He had dared her to try and catch him by avoiding her; by working so hard to keep them from ending up in this exact position. What she was doing now that she had him - now that she had won - was daring him back.

She was placing her cards on the table, saying to him yes, here I am. And god, Amy wanted more than anything to just push up onto her toes even a fraction of an inch and press her lips and her body to his. But that wasn't what mattered, and they both knew it - what mattered was if he wanted that, too.

Yes, the thought burned hot and impulsive in Sonic's stomach and chest. Yes, yes.

Damn, she was beautiful. And clever. And infuriating. And this was their last night before everything - everything - changed between them. This moment right here - trapped in her gaze with their bodies pressed so, so close while her hands did god knows what to him - was going to be their last good moment together, maybe ever. He swallowed, unable to bear the thought.

"Can I see you?" he whispered. "Tomorrow?"

Amy's hand froze at his waist, and her eyes sparkled. She smiled at him, thrilled - the unequivocal winner of their battle of wills.

Sonic melted just a little at the sight of her all lit up, thankful her hands had stopped moving. If she had kept going, he surely would have quickly dissolved into nothing more than a puddle at her feet.

"You… may see me whenever you wish," Amy replied slyly, placing the decision to pursue whatever this was artfully back into his hands.

They pulled away from each other, almost panting. Sonic watched Amy blink like she was coming back down to earth, and he felt around for the knife that was surely still at his waist.

Amy stood tall and held the knife up proudly, winking at him, her chest still heaving. "Bad luck," Amy said, and tossed Sonic back his knife.

"You're lucky it's not the tournament of thieves," Knuckles snorted as Amy turned from Sonic to trot back to her horse. "That was the sloppiest lift I've ever seen."

"Doesn't matter," Amy called back to him, almost singing the words in delight. "I got the knife, didn't I? And now -"

Amy pulled something large out of the saddle-bag, turning happily to Sonic with a triumphant grin. "A deal's a deal!"

"No," Sonic groaned with a shake of his head.

"Pleeeeease," Amy begged, holding the lute out to him. "Just one little song? I have blankets! Come on, sit by me and play me something. I can't go home until you play me something, I refuse to. I have one month left - maybe -" she added before any of the men could protest her morbid prediction. "And I have a few things I need to experience before then - just in case. Your playing is absolutely one of them. Top of the list, actually."

Amy marched over and stood resolutely by the log Knuckles had felled weeks ago. She patted it expectantly, daring Sonic to try and tell her no.

Sonic crossed his arms and was about to say something snarky when he went stumbling forward. Knuckles laughed aloud, shoving Sonic toward the log mightily again.

"Come on jester," Knuckles said, his deep voice rumbling with amusement. "Put on a show for the court. Even I want to see this."

Amy pressed the wooden instrument into Sonic's hands and grabbed Tails' arm, pulling the young man down to sit next to her. She spread a blanket over the two of them, and looked expectantly at Knuckles - dead serious.

"As if," the big man scoffed, and moved behind them all to lean against a tree trunk.

"I'm not so sure I want you to be Queen anymore," Sonic grumbled, huffing air into his hands to warm up his fingers. "This feels like an abuse of power to me."

Nevertheless, he sat next to Amy and settled the lute in his lap. The moon shone high in the sky, lighting the glen up. The small crew lounged among the stars, bright and innumerable, as Sonic ran his fingers gingerly along the neck of the lute.

"I don't know when the last time I saw one of these things was…" Sonic murmured, plucking at the strings and wincing at how out of tune the instrument was. Clearly, the lute hadn't seen a player in quite some time, either.

He started to tune it up, glancing at Amy's flushed face. She watched him with near feverish delight.

"You sure this is what you want your memory of your last night to be?" Sonic joked, plucking an out-of-tune melody at her.

Amy's ears flicked back at the offending sound, but she smiled at Sonic. "Tomorrow will be my last night," Amy said, locking eyes with him.

"Right…" Sonic said, then he cleared his throat dramatically.

The heavy wooden body of the instrument felt warm and comforting in his arms. Even the smell of it sent him tumbling back in time. But the nostalgia for his childhood that the thing conjured deep in his memory felt less painful than Sonic would have thought it might.

Holding the lute, he suddenly recalled a song and his home; the smell of clovers and a day out. A picnic, the rough scratch of his bed covers, warm bread at dinner, people. His parents. The lyrics and simple melody of a poem set to the sound of his father's old lute. It all reverberated through his veins and flooded every single one of his senses.

Sonic glanced at Amy again and felt a shiver run down his spine. Her ruffled quills and sweet smile was all the courage he needed. He could not say the words to her - the ones he knew that she herself desperately wanted to say to him - because he was going to break her heart so horribly soon. But he did have the memory of his parents' devotion to each other, this lute, their ring, and a song that his father had sung to his mother countless times. He could give this to her, at the very least. He could play her this song.

"Here's something my… dad used to sing…" Sonic said, glancing away from his friends and then shaking his head. "...Old Greenhill folk song," Sonic mumbled as he turned his full attention to the lute.

The twanging of the strings rang out in the crisp night, struck true and clear by Sonic's nimble fingers. The plucking was beautiful and simple at first. The single notes that Sonic pulled from the strings soon turned into a cascade of sound, each note waterfalling on the next as he picked up speed and familiarity with the instrument.

Amy's heart skipped and tumbled over itself as he played on and on, letting just the simple beauty of the acoustic instrument envelope them for a bit. Each note seemed to warm them all, pulling the four confidantes closer together until it felt like they had been taken from the glen to somewhere else. Somewhere outside of all of… this. Somewhere where the four of them were just friends, gathered around with nothing to do but exist in a moment together.

Amy closed her eyes, willing the moment to stop. Trying to live in it forever.

Then, from beside her, Sonic opened his mouth and began to sing.

Woe, the days have passed me by,
The heav'ns so far and time fleeting.
Though life it fades and daylight dies,
When I go, I know that she'll greet me.

Oh my love, come take me home.
Oh my love, I've been waiting.
She's my Queen and my heart's delight,
My love, oh my love eternally.

Sonic glanced at Amy before continuing, and she smiled just for him. Though Sonic didn't sing as much as he did speak melodically, Amy thought his lilting, easy tenor might've been the most beautiful voice she had ever heard.

My dearest heart, with you I'll go.
Our bed, our home now sits empty.
Alas, our love among the stars.
Our love, oh our love eternally.

Oh my love, come take me home.
Oh my love, I've been waiting.
She's my Queen and my heart's delight,
And ne'er again shall I leave thee.

Sonic's fingers stilled over the guitar as the song ended, thrusting the glen back into jarring quiet. Amy reached over quickly, tugging on his sleeve.

"One more time, please," she whispered, and he simply nodded, watching her as he sang it again:

Oh my love, come take me home.
Oh my love, I've been waiting.
Oh, my Queen and my heart's delight,
Ne'er again shall I leave thee.


"I suppose this is goodbye to the both of you, then." Amy nodded at Tails and Knuckles as the three men gathered around her for their final send-off. She was aware that maybe she should say something queenly - inspire them, or reassure them that she would be back for them after the tournament.

"Thank you for your immeasurable help," Amy began, hoping she came across as earnestly as she felt. She took a deep breath to carry on, but Knuckles scoffed at her.

"What?" Amy demanded indignantly.

"This isn't the end, idiot," Knuckles said quietly. "So don't pretend that it is."

Amy swallowed, suddenly emotional as she looked between all the thieves. Not just one man she loved, but three.

"Okay well, even if it isn't the end," Amy said with a good-natured frown at Knuckles. "I just want you all to know… A future where I am Queen wouldn't be possible without you. And now, a future without you in my life wouldn't be possible, either. I promise, I will be back. I will repay each of you for what you've done for me tenfold. For a group of thieves, you are the most honorable men I have met, and I am endlessly grateful to all of you."

She bowed deeply to all of them, and saw something pass between the three men that she couldn't begin to understand. Knuckles placed a fist over his heart and nodded at her, and Tails gave her a sheepish hug. She laughed and ruffled his head, holding the young man tight to her one more time.

She turned to Sonic, not sure what to do with him.

"Tomorrow?" he said simply.

"Tomorrow," Amy nodded.

The one-word affirmation made them both feel safe as they left the glen that night. Whatever came next - whatever they chose to do 'tomorrow' - at least they had one more night. And for Sonic - for the man who knew that this would be the last time he could promise 'tomorrow,' that was more than enough for him.


A/N: Thank you for your patience for this chapter, please enjoy3