FicWad

Shadow was the first to awaken. He sat up and blinked quickly, trying to remember all the past events that had took place. When his eyes fell upon the burning debris of a robot it all came to him. He quickly got to his feet and looked around. The others were still unconscious, lying on their backs where they fell or on their stomachs where they had landed from a dive. Shadow looked over each of them quickly, but efficiently, spotting no injuries. Next he turned his attention to the debris.

He looked about, almost desperately, and still there was no sign of the two missing hedgehogs. Not that Shadow really cared much, it's just their was something about Sonic that he found intriguing, and though he thought Amy was annoying, she was kind and had a good heart. In fact this is how he thought with all the other Sonic group members. He found a default with them, but always found a good thing about them as well, and it always balanced out, like a math equation.



"Did you find anything?" Came a feminine voice. Shadow turned from the debris and slowly nodded his head, which in turn caused Rouge to sigh.

"I was afraid you would say that..."

Shadow saw her sad face, and almost thought about comforting her, but he dismissed the thought. Rouge was a strong woman, and bedside's that was Knuckles' job. Instead Shadow headed toward the rest of the group. "I'll wake the others."

Rouge watched him leave before turning back to all the burning debris and sighing. There was no sign of the two hedgehogs anywhere, and it caused a fear to creep up from the depths of her soul. She had never really been close to Sonic, but considering the fact that Amy was her best friend who loved Sonic so, she found herself worrying to the brink of tears over the both of them, rather then just Amy.

Knuckles walked up and placed a hand on Rouge's shoulder and squeezed it comfortingly. Knuckles didn't know much about woman, but he knew a lot about helping friends. Unless that friend had blue spikes and was a stubborn little brat.

Tails, who stood beside Knuckles and Rouge, was trying to suppress his tears as much as he could. But, as hard as he tried, a few tears escaped and slid down his cheeks.

Knuckles stared at the debris with a far off look in his eyes. "I can't believe there gone..."

Shadow nodded his head. "I don't believe they are."

The gang turned to Shadow in surprise. "What do you mean?" Rouge asked, voicing the rest of the group's thoughts.

"The chaos emerald can not just simply cause a person to disappear..." Shadow said. "It either gives off energy, or absorbs it."

Knuckles took on a thoughtful stance. "I think Shadow's on to something. Come to mention it, I can feel a strange energy coming from this place, like something I've never felt before..."

Tails turned to the group. "But in order to determine if Shadow's thesis is indeed correct, I will have to conduct a series of experiments."

"We'll do whatever we can to help" Knuckles responded, speaking for Rouge and Shadow as well.

"Actually, you and Shadow's knowledge about the chaos emeralds would come in handy" Tails said, smiling half-heartily. He headed for the Tornado. "I'll head to my workshop and get some supplies."

Shadow, Rouge, and Knuckles followed silently, each lost in their own thoughts.

Rouge was deeply depressed about her closest friend and friends crush had happened to go missing. Knuckles, however, had noticed Rouge had been silent the whole ride home with a sullen face. He felt bad, and considered cheering her up once they reached the workshop. Shadow, on the other hand, was thinking of the possibilities of what had happened with the red chaos emerald.

No one thought of starting a conversation, and therefore the ride home was slow and quiet. Once they reached it Tails offered his home for the three furries to get some rest and tend their cuts and bruises. Rouge and Knuckles gladly took the offer, while Shadow offered to lend Tails a hand. It wasn't long before the two had set off again.

Knuckles had finished tending his wounds, and was shocked at what he saw when he turned around. Rouge had let the purple leather around her shoulders fall slightly, showing off more cleavage then intended, as she struggled to reach a sand-filled cut on her back. Knuckles felt his cheeks grow hot as he watched her, and after some long intervals he walked over to her.

"Let me help."

Rouge turned her back to him and sighed. "I miss them all ready..." she said sadly.

"Me too" Knuckles responded. "But missing them is not going to help them... I'm sorry! Did I hurt you?"

Rouge shrugged off the pain of the antiseptic and sighed as she pulled the purple leather back up her shoulders. "I should have helped them!"

"Don't beat yourself up... You wouldn't have been able to help them, what happened, happened. Amy is a strong girl-"

"Woman!" Rouge interrupted, jumping to her feet. "You and Sonic don't understand! Why can't you see the woman I see in Amy?"

"I do see it... She really has grown into a beautiful young woman; it's Sonic who refuses to see it."

Rouge looked at him and forced down her anger. "Well, I hope he will protect her from any harm..."

"That's something you don't have to worry about with him."

Rouge smiled. "Your right... where ever they are, I bet there perfectly fine."

She hugged Knuckles, and a blush flew to Knuckles' cheeks. "Thank you..." she whispered before announcing she was going to take a shower. Knuckles watched her head up the stairs.

"Amy may have turned into a beautiful young woman... but she'll never be as beautiful as you" Knuckles blurted out.

Rouge stopped in surprise. "What?"

Knuckles just stood at the bottom of the stairs, his cheeks a slight pink. "I said you're beautiful..." he muttered.

Rouge blushed a slight pink and said thank you before returning her attention to taking a shower.

Knuckles sighed sullenly. 'If I'm supposed to be so brave, how come I don't have the courage to tell Rouge how I really feel?'






The plane sat, at rest on the beach as the sun began to set. The wind had a pleasant breeze that blew Shadow's quills as he enjoyed the fresh air. Tails on the other hand, had a small hand held machine that could read energy waves.

Tails had collected alot of energy readings from the robot debris. But some strange energy waves began to show up on the energy reader. "This is amazing!"

Shadow, curious, headed over to see what Tails had found.

"That's alot of energy..."

"Approximately enough to cause a black hole..." Tails informed.

Suddenly a light bulb went off in Shadow's head. "Not a black hole Tails... a wormhole."

Tails thought a moment. Suddenly, realization hit the little fox like one of Knuckles' punches.

"You're right!" Tails cried. He looked at the small communicator, located on his wrist that looked like a watch and pressed a few numbers. Shadow watched with curiosity as Rouge and Knuckles' face appeared on the small watch screen.

"We think we've found out what happened" Tails explained.

"Okay shoot" Knuckles replied.

"We think it has something to do with a wormhole" Shadow said, a bit impatiently.

"Wormhole?!" Rouge cried.

"You mean like chaos control?" Knuckles asked.

"Exactly! Except larger..." Tails informed. The group sat silently for an interval, only the sound of the beach waves could be heard through the communicator.

"So... how do we find them?" Asked Rouge.

Shadow stepped in. "I'm not sure it's possible. When one uses chaos control, they simply imagine the place they want to be. Since we don't know where Amy and Sonic are located, one would not be able to use it that way."

"Chaos control also relies on the natural attraction to the other emeralds..." Shadow continued. "And since the red chaos emerald gave off energy and me and Sonic have the ability to absorb it, I think we may be able to rely on the emeralds attraction to one another to find them."

"So you're saying we may be able to use chaos control to find them?" Rouge asked.

"That's exactly what me and Shadow are saying" Tails answered. "But there is still the possibility that we may be wrong... Or the possibility that if one uses chaos control, they may not be able to return."

"How could it be wrong? It sound's valid to me!" Knuckles said. "How else could you explain their disappearance?"

"We don't know Knuckles" Tails said.

"Tails, are you saying that if Shadow uses chaos control, he may not be able to return?" Rouge asked.

"Precisely."

The group stayed quiet for a while. Finally Rouge spoke up again. "So... what do we do?"

"I don't know" answered Shadow. "We don't even know if chaos control has the ability to jump dimensions."

The group went quiet again, lost in their own thoughts.

"At least we have to try..." Knuckles said.

"You're right Knuckles" Rouge said. 'I just hope Shadow will be all right.'

Tails looked at Shadow, and he nodded. "Fine... Let's do it! We'll pack up here and head home."






Amy's eye's fluttered as she began to regain consciousness. Her vision was blurry, but a couple of rapid blinks restored it. She sat up blearily and looked around. She was in the middle of a dark jungle. This made a chill run up her spine, as she looked at the strange purplish leaves shaped like slippers. The trees rose high, that the sun could not get through the canopy. Silver vines curled down like snakes around trees, and happened to be on every tree Amy saw. There were some tan, fern like bushes, with one-foot thorns sticking from every direction. There were other plants that were indescribable, and some plants that loomed over, as though they were giant shadows, stretching to reach whatever it could grab in it's dark claws.

Amy heard a pained moan and forgot her surrounding's as she snapped her head back and saw Sonic lying on his stomach on the jungle floor, about four feet behind her. Amy crawled over to him quietly and noticed the large blisters, and his severely burned skin, which happened to be peeling away in big chunks of flesh. It seemed he had been sweating for quite some time, since his fur was almost soaked. His back looked as though it had been bleeding quite heavily, due to some of the large gapping cuts and dry blood on his back, and his eyes were clenched shut in pain.

"Sonic?" Amy asked quietly, her eye's searching for other injuries that might have gone unnoticed at first glance. She thought she saw a tear squeeze out of Sonic's eye and felt her heart begin pounding in her throat. 'Sonic never cries... is he really in that much pain?' she wondered as she looked him over one last time.

She pressed her hand to his forehead, and felt a searing blaze. His temperature was way above normal. "Sonic?" She tried again, but still got no response.

Suddenly his temperature started to cool down, and he wasn't sweating as much. "Sonic... can you hear me?"

Sonic's eye's fluttered. They opened slowly and turned to Amy. He almost looked at her pleadingly, as though he was begging for her to do something. "Amy?"

"Sonikku!" Amy cried, relieved he had awoken. She looked at his back again and wondered about what she should do. She looked around and her eyes fell on the one-foot thorns on the strange four-foot fern. An idea came to her and she stood up and walked over to the plant. Avoiding the other giant thorns, Amy picked one of the smallest and snapped it off, before returning to Sonic. Then she carefully began to hack at the middle part of her dress.

"What are you doing?" Sonic inquired weakly, as he still hadn't fully recovered since waking up. He was looking at Amy strangely.

Amy ripped off the strip she had made and said, "I'm making a bandage for your wounds." She carefully placed it over Sonic's back and helped him lift so that she could wrap it the rest of the way around him. Then, noticing the sticky ooze on the thorn, she used it to stick the edges of the bandage together.

She stood up again and walked away as Sonic sat down slowly on his rump. He watched her hack away some of the silver vine and tie it around her waste, making a belt. She noticed him watching her and smiled sheepishly. "So my new skirt doesn't fall down..."

Sonic smiled back at her. "Good thinking."

It was then Sonic looked around. He, too, was intimidated of his surrounding's, but was less overt on showing it. Despite the strange place, he knew the two needed to make a shelter and a fire, and had to find some water and food. He silently thanked for Tails' little "survival in the woods" lesson he had had two years ago, before requesting that Amy help him up. Amy jumped at his command. She carefully stood him on his feet and steadied him, as a wave of dizziness caused him to sway.

"We need to find water" Sonic said, once he could stand steadily.

"You mean, enter that?" Amy asked, pointing toward the jungle.

"Yep..." Sonic answered, pushing back a strange black colored bush and stepping into the jungle.

Amy knew that Sonic knew what he was doing, she was just afraid of what was inside the jungle. Yet, they weight of guilt she felt for causing Sonic so much pain willed her to follow him. She needed to return the favor and protect him now that he was injured.

They walked for a long time, the feeling of fear turning into boredom, which in turn caused a lulling effect. Neither of them started a conversation, listening for threats or for water, which ever came first. Sonic, being injured, was running out of energy due to the fact that he constantly had to fight his way through the jungle. Amy on the other hand, had her mind on something else entirely as Sonic walked ahead of her.

Amy loved every part of Sonic. His sexy body, his beautiful sapphire fur and jade eye's, his graceful way of moving, his love of danger, his carefree personality, his heart of gold... She could go on and on about how she loved him. Yet, she knew that he was a wild mustang, as free a spirit as the wind, and could never be tamed by a simple emotion like love... but she wished and hoped that if she tried, she could prove herself wrong.

Sonic stopped suddenly, and Amy, still lost in her thoughts, walked into him by accident and blushed a deep scarlet.

"OW!" Sonic cried as his back began to throb.

"Sonic... I'm sorry I..."

"Shhhhhh!" Sonic warned, suddenly hearing something. His ears were erect and twitching about. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Amy asked, straining her ears. Being as thirsty as she was, the sound of rushing water registered in her brain quickly.

Both hedgehogs looked at each other in excitement. "Water!"

Amy took off at a fast jog, and Sonic smiled as he watched her rush ahead. Sonic's back began to throb as he willed himself to walk faster, and a sudden wave of dizziness hit him, and suddenly his legs stopped working. Amy heard the thud and yelp of pain and stopped on the dime. She was quick to Sonic's aid.

"Are you okay?" Amy asked, helping the hedgehog to stand.

Fatigue showed in all of Sonic's features. "That was... embarrassing..." Sonic said through pants as Amy helped him to sit down. Sonic was hot again, as though he had a fever.

"There's a clearing just ahead, do you think you-" but Amy was cut short as Sonic whimpered in pain.

Sonic's ears flattened against his head and he wiped some sweat off his forehead. He felt weak, and his pride slowly cracked like ice over a pond as he said; "I don't think so Ames..."

Amy watched him wince again and felt her heart leap in her throat. "Come on... Just a little longer."

Amy wrapped her arm under Sonic's and helped the hedgehog stand up. She half carried, half dragged, Sonic to a small clearing with a small waterfall that led into a pool of fresh water. She helped Sonic to sit down and then grabbed a large green leaf, off a strange looking blue flower, and filled it with water. She gave Sonic the leaf and watched him drink, after using the same leaf to pour some water on the hedgehog to cool him. When the heat of Sonic's strange fever disappeared and Sonic's temperature returned to normal, Amy got a drink for herself.

"I need to make a shelter" Sonic said, once finished, but Amy kept him from standing up.

"You're not even strong enough to stand Sonic..." Amy informed as she gently pushed Sonic back to the ground. "Tell me what to do and I'll do it."

Sonic hesitated, before compling with Amy's wishes. "Look around" Sonic ordered. "We may find a natural shelter, if not, then I'll make one."

Amy sighed, but did as she was told.

Luckily, Amy did spot a cave close by to the waterfall. It was farther in the jungle, at the bottom of a steep hill of rocks. At the top of the rocks you could see the vast ocean. At the bottom of the cave there was a ledge that led into the entrance. From the cave the sound of the waterfall was faint but still noticeable.

Amy helped Sonic up on to the ledge of the cave and then went out to collect dry sticks, twigs, leaves, and wood. Sonic sat in the cave resting, and watched with remorse as Amy collected firewood.

"I want to help..."

"Sonic, I already told you... I'll do it!" Amy said, feeling like a mother scolding her child, as she dropped another large pile of wood with the rest of the large pile she had recently collected, located beside the wall close to the entrance of the cave.

Sonic stood up, took two small, yet long, dry sticks from the pile and began collecting some medium sized rock's, about the size of the palm of his hand. He sat down on the middle of the ledge and placed the rocks in a circle. Placing some dry leaves and twigs in the center, Sonic began rubbing the two sticks together rapidly. In a matter of minute's Sonic had created a fire. He added some of the dry wood to get it going until it burned steadily.

Amy smiled at him. "Tails really taught you something after all."

Suddenly Sonic's stomach grumbled. "Yeah... everything except collecting food."

Amy sighed, though she had a smile on her face. She stood and walked out of the cave again. A half an hour later, she came back with her dress full of black, heart shaped berries.

"Are you sure those are editable?" Sonic asked, poking at his ration, as Amy sat next to the hedgehog.

"There's only one way to find out" Amy said as she placed a berry in her mouth. "Hey! They're good!"

Hearing this, Sonic dug in greedily, causing Amy to laugh. Once both had had their fill they laid down near the entrance of the cave. The sun had started to go down, and soon it would be dark.

"I'll stay up and keep the fire going..." Sonic offered, lying on his side.

Amy, who had been lying on her back, turned to her side to face Sonic. "No. I'll do it; you need your rest."

"Ames..." Sonic said, reaching out and placing a hand on her cheek. Amy blushed.

"You did enough all ready... I want to help out too."

Amy knew Sonic did not like feeling helpless, and she knew that by not letting him help that was exactly what he would feel. Amy, though reluctantly, agreed to let Sonic watch the fire.

"If you get tired, wake me up!" Amy ordered.

"All right! All right! Sheesh..."

Sonic retreated his hand and smiled warmly at Amy. "Thanks for helping me... I owe you one."

Amy just returned his smile. "Anything for a friend."






"Let's get ready" Tails said. "Do you have all your supplies?"

Shadow nodded, bouncing the heavy backpack to emphasis. He clutched the blue emerald in his hand tightly as he awaited Tails' approval. Rouge and Knuckles watched from a distance.

"Activate the sensor" Tails ordered.

Shadow pushed the red button on the metal collar on his ankle. Suddenly a red light began beeping. He looked back and saw Tails sitting at a laptop. Shadow watched as the little fox inserted the communicator in his ear and said, "Testing, testing, do you copy?"

"I copy loud and clear." Shadow responded.

Suddenly Tails gave him a thumbs up and Shadow lifted the emerald high. He took a deep breath before shouting, "CHAOS CONTROL!"

Shadow disappeared in a flash of white light, and allowed the chaos emerald to choose the location for him. On the other hand, Tails watched his laptop screen, outstounded when the sensor disappeared.

Shadow went through a glowing, intensely white, eye-watering, tunnel, and was quickly brought upon solid ground. He landed with a thud and stood up, observing his surroundings.

"Shadow... where are you? I've lost your tracking device" came Tails' voice over the communication link.

"But we haven't lost connection?"

"That is weird... anyway, spot any signs of Sonic or Amy?"

"No... but I'll keep searching. Over and out."

Shadow turned off his communication link and started his tread through the jungle. He walked until it was too dark to see. With a curse he realized he would have to make camp. Reluctantly, he tossed his bag aside and lay on the ground. Not long after he become comfortable, Shadow zonked out.






A Calidium, (Kal-e-de-um) a small cat like creature, approached the forest clearing cautiously. It had fox like ears and tail, and was the color of aquamarine. It's tail split like a fork in the road, and was held up in curiosity as the Calidium approached the sleeping thing.

The Thing had sprawled out on the forest floor, as though nearly collapsing, and had thrown it's belongs on the ground with carelessness. The Calidium recognized the Thing was harmless at this moment and decided to look at the strange bag. Using its claws and teeth it began trying to open it, and see what it held.

Morning songbirds sang with joy through out the canopy trees, and the Calidium was unfazed by it, seeing as it had lived here it's whole life and knew nothing else. A drop of bird dropping's cut through the air and landed on the sleeping Things nose, and as the Thing sat up the birds blasted an alarm and took off from the over head tree's. The Calidium froze. Unsure of what to do it remained standing there in curiosity, but could feel the urge to run away pulsing through it's veins.

Shadow wiped the poop off his nose with the back of his glove, all the while glaring at the tree's above.

"Stupid little-"

Suddenly his eyes fell on the little blue creature. The two remained staring at each other in curiosity. Shadow wondered if he could get the creature to come toward him, and began to slowly outstretch his hand. The small creature braced itself to run, but then it noticed Shadow cease moving immediately, and it slowly began to grow curious again.

Shadow starting making soft reassuring noises and the small creature cocked its head. At first it was confused, but decided later that it liked the noises, and took a timid step toward the hedgehog. Shadow waited patiently, all the while voicing soft soothing noises as the creature took step after step, approaching his hand surely but slowly. Finally the small cat-like creature had come upon his hand and sniffed it wearily.

After registering the Thing as harmless and his smell as friend, the Calidium rubbed its cheek against the hedgehog's hand. Shadow smiled softly and began to gently rub the creature's head.

"Are you a girl, or a boy?" Shadow asked as he stood up. He went to his backpack and unzipped it. He took out some breakfast he had packed and tossed a piece to the small creature. The creature didn't hesitate on snatching it.

Shadow watched it play with the food, rolling on its back and pawing at it while roaring like a baby lion. Shadow figured this creature was only a kitten, since he recognized the play antics. Shadow also took this chance to determine the sex of the baby.

"You're a little girl..." Shadow said with a smile. "I think I'll call you..." suddenly Maria flashed in Shadow's mind. The small cat-like creature reminded him of Maria, so beautiful, so playful, and not to mention Maria had always loved the color baby blue. "Maria... your name will be Maria."

As he said this the Calidium looked up at Shadow, and Shadow thought he saw understanding in it's eyes, but dismissed that thought quickly. It was just an animal.

After having breakfast Shadow picked up his bag and stood up. "Are you coming with me, Maria?" He asked the small creature. At the sound of her new name, Maria jumped up and began following her new "mother," and Shadow couldn't help but smile.

Shadow walked for a while, listening to the sounds of the jungle or observing some new plant he happened to cross, which happened alot. After a couple hours more of walking Shadow spotted a clear blue pond. Maria bounded ahead, lapping up the water greedily as soon as she reached the bank. Shadow noticed he was thirsty too and decided to copy her. After the two sat, resting and enjoying the beautiful scenery around them.

"Shadow? Come in Shadow" came a feminine voice from the communication link on Shadow's wrist.

Maria looked at the watch with curiosity and cocked its head as Shadow raised the watch to talk into it. He pushed a small button on the side of it and answered, "This is Shadow responding."

"How is your search?" Rouge asked.

"Not to good... What we need is a search party not a search person."

"You're right, and Tails thinks he can find a way for us to help you!"

"All right, are you guys coming here or am I needed?" Shadow asked.

"I suspect you will be needed..."

'That is... if you can get back here...' Rouge thought to herself, a bit sullenly.

"Right, when should I come back?"

"Around sun set. Tails wants you take a mental note of your location by then, that way when he calls you back for supplies, we all can return to the place you left off" Rouge explained.

"Will do... Over and out" Shadow said before releasing the button. Finally he turned to the curious Maria. "You wanna come too?"

Maria let out a soft mew before rubbing against Shadow's knee. Shadow laughed at the tickling sensation before picking up the small creature and petting her until she purred.

"I'll take that as a yes."






Amy's eye's fluttered open. She sat up slowly and looked around. The fire had started to go out, it's smoke rising slowly into the ever-brightening sky. Amy noticed Sonic was still sleeping soundly beside her, though he looked rather uncomfortable.

'Come to think of it... sleeping on this rock really did 'wonders' to my back' Amy thought sarcastically as she stood up. She now knew her first three projects of the day. Storing water, finding food, and making a more comfortable sleeping surface.

Amy began her slow tred to the water and took a long slow drink. After she sat back on the bank and watched the water, without really focusing, until splashing caught her attention. She watched as a golden colored fish, with long and graceful fins, leaped out of the water, catching a bug as it tried to escape the mouth of the hungry fish. The bug did not succeed and the fish landed back in the water, satisfied with its catch.

'Well, there's our food... but how do we catch it?' Amy wondered. But right now the water problem was more important. She remembered a large rock in the cave that had a huge ditch-like hole in it, and the rocks temperature would probably keep the water cool. It would make a good storage for water since Sonic could not come to the waterfall for the life giving liquid. Now if she could just find a way to fill it. Finally she spotted a plant with giant leaves, about the size of a two-liter soda bottles, that were shaped like Foxglove flowers.

She ran to the leaves and grabbed two of them, then filled them with water and headed back toward the cave. She was careful not to wake Sonic on her many trips back and forth to the rock inside the cave and before long the rock was filled. On her last trip she found a small, palm sized, rock that had broken in half. It had a hole inside it, and Amy realized these could be cups. She placed them by the base of the water storage rock before heading back out again.

She watched as the fish continued jumping out of the water, catching bugs, and landing back into the depths of the crystal clear liquid. If only she had some type of net. She stood up and looked back at trees. She sighed and took a step into the jungle and began searching. It took her half an hour before she finally found some very long and thin vines, which were surprisingly strong. She collected a lot of them and headed back toward the bank.

She placed them down and smiled to herself. 'That'll make a nice net.' Suddenly Sonic flashed in her mind. 'But it'll have to wait...'

Amy once again repeated her trip back and forth from the waterfall to the cave. This time she carried giant leaves from a five-foot shrub. The leaves were the color red with green edges, and they were thick and had an almost fur like coating on them, making them soft. She made a mound with them on the cave floor and looked at her handiwork with pride before turning toward Sonic.

She shook him gently and called his name softly.

"A-Am-Amy?" Sonic asked opening his eye's a sliver.

"Hey Sonic, I made something more comfortable for you..." she said, helping him sit up. She slipped her arm under Sonic's and helped him walk over to the "bed." She then helped him sit down again.

Sonic sighed as the comfort of the soft surface made him relax. "Morning!" He said cheerfully. He looked around. "Wow, you've been working hard..."

Guilt began to take over Sonic's figure as he looked at the bed. "Awww... Ames, thanks but you didn't have to..."

Amy pushed him on to his back on the leave mound and shushed him. "Just get some rest Sonic, I've got it all under control."

"But..." Sonic started, sitting up again.

Amy shook her head. "No... I want you to rest, the faster you get better, the faster we can find a way out of here."

"I want to help too!" Sonic whined, he crossed his arms and stuck out his bottom lip.

"You can help me, by resting... I don't want to risk you hurting yourself even more."

"I won't hurt myself, I'll be careful!" Sonic protested.

"But you're never careful!" Amy exasperated.

Suddenly her posture changed. "Look, I already caused you enough pain, I don't want to be the reason you get hurt again..." Amy eye's were full of emotion, and tears rimmed the edge of them. She didn't want to seem weak in front of her hero, so when her vision blurred, she forced her gaze away.

Sonic was momentarily speechless. Amy took this silence to her advantage and hurried out of the cave, as Sonic remained shocked at her words.

For all the years he had known her, Sonic had thought Amy had never really cared about him. He thought she had chased him around because she was like every other fan girl, who wanted fame and fortune, rather then, all the things a true relationship brought. But what Amy had said now, and the real emotion he had seen, proved this hedgehog wrong.

He had misjudged Amy, and as he thought of all those years of rejecting her in the most hurtful ways to a girl in love, a guilty wave of dark clouds loomed over the hedgehog. It was like an invisible hand was squeezing his insides. He was surprised Amy was still talking to him right now, still caring for him, when he clearly didn't deserve it. More then anything, if he were Amy, he would hate him more then he hated himself at this moment.

He knew now that Amy truly loved him, and it was not like Sonic did not care for her. Even though he thought Amy hadn't truly loved him, she had still managed to cast her spell on the hedgehog, and part of the reason he had run away from Amy was that he was shy and felt a little intimidated by Amy's fast and sudden proclamations of her love. He had also felt that Amy may have been still to young to handle a steady relationship, and he knew that both Amy and him were so not ready for marriage and kids!

But now he was wiser. Amy had shown him her maturity, by stopping all the silly speedy love announcements of marriage, and, just now, what her feelings for him were. Question was how was he going to make it up to her for all those years of heartbreak? He wondered if she could even find it in her heart to forgive him, though he strongly doubted it. Why should she? He didn't deserve someone as good as Amy Rose, and as far as Amy should be concerned; she would be better off without him.

What Sonic didn't know, was Amy felt the same way. As she tried cutting the thin vine's with the thorn she had collected yesterday, she wondered if Sonic even liked her. All she did was cause him pain or get him in trouble. As she thought about it, Sonic probably ran away from her for all those years because he found her repulsive. Tears threatened to spill out of her eyes as a lump of emotion formed in her throat. Right at that moment she decided Sonic would be better off with out her, and as soon as the two returned to Station Square, she would pack up and leave the city for good.

Love can be so ironic.