FicWad

Disclaimer: The characters used are not mine but are copyright of Sega and SonicTeam, but the story is mine so HA!

Author's Notes: Oh man! The story is almost finished! Here is Chapter 3 for everyone, hope you enjoy. The next one is the conclusion of this little story here. So, read on and review. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

Reminder: This story is still completely AU (alternate universe.)

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Hidden


Chapter Three: Different




My phone never stops ringing.

"Sonic! You dog, you! Proposing to Amy. Congrats, man!" Knuckles.

"Hey, Sonic, I want to be in the wedding. Oh yeah, congratulations." Rouge.

"Sonic! You're getting married! Wow...congratulations, buddy." Tails.

This past week has been hell for me. It completely baffles my mind how the entire world seems to know about this damn engagement that was never even supposed to happen. I guess the fact that it was in the newspaper doesn't help any. That's what I get for being a hero though; the world knows what goes on in my personal life. For the first time, I'm grateful it's not as hectic anymore, or else I'd really be up a creek without a paddle. If I had gotten engaged when I was sixteen (not that I would've), this whole story would be on the front of all the papers. Eggman's been in jail for about five years now and there aren't too many mad scientists around that want to take over the world anymore. Now, though I hate to admit it, I am a bit of a has-been hero of 25, still recognized but not as much so.

Her parents are thrilled, just like everyone else. They even invited us to dinner tonight to celebrate, and as I stand here in front of my closet, figuring out what I would look "presentable" in, I wonder just how I can strangle myself with a wire hanger.

I shake my head. This isn't me. I'm not acting like myself. Thoughts as negative as this have never crossed my mind before. I usually laugh at the problems in life and never let the weight of the world upon my shoulders. I used to just brush things off and relax...this is not who I am.

I feel so empty without him.

I sigh and just grab a random dress shirt, snapping it off its hanger, and I don't even notice the color. Amy had ironed my pants and suit jacket for me yesterday and I turn to them as they lay there on the bed. I think they feel pity on me almost as I slip them on.




We pull up to the Rose's family home. The house seems to be one right out of a movie. It's a single home with the perfect garden in the front, the perfect walkway leading to the perfect front door, the perfect siding seems to glisten white even in the dark along with the maroon shutters beside crystal windows.

She clutches onto my arm like a handcuff and we approach the house. Her parents never bothered me before and are actually nice people, but with everyone around me talking about this engagement (that I ponder ever second of my existence to get out of), I just hope that this night turns out well and I don't do anything stupid.

I feel like a balloon with too much air, and I'm only getting more thrown at me. I can't help but wonder when I'll pop.

We're in front of the tall, white door, and Amy's smile is bright, while mine equals her brightness, just with a bunch of fabrication thrown in with it. I take a deep breath, straighten my suit jacket, and close my eyes for a moment as the footsteps from the other side of the door approach me.

"You look nervous, honey. Don't be." She reassures me with a kiss on the cheek.

The door opens and burst of light and warmth hits me from inside.

"Daddy!" She almost leaps into her father's arms as I stand beside her, out of this bubble of happiness and excitement.

Her dad is kind of a scrawny, tall hedgehog. Bright red fur shines off his skin, his quills stick out like mine except are pressed down a bit more, and he has a limp when he walks from a bad knee injury that never healed correctly. His face is warm, comforting...he's just a man with a happy and welcoming disposition. His clear-rimmed glasses sit on the edge of his nose, his navy blue sweater ends just above his perfectly pressed khakis, and he wraps his daughter into a great hug, as if he hasn't seen her in years, even though he saw her last week.

"Mommy!" Then she does the same to her mother.

Her mother is actually very beautiful. Snowy white fur covers her from head to toe, her quills combed down much like Amy's, a nice purple dress lays under her pink apron, and she too, wraps her arms around her daughter in the same way her father did.

I just stand there until they are finished their little hugs fest, until her parents finally invite us in off the step. Her father pats me on the back a few times, smiling at me, and then her mother gives me a kiss on the cheek and a hug. I know what they are thinking, they just haven't said it yet...but they will. I'll get the /"you're a good guy, Sonic. I know you'll treat my daughter right and blah blah blah" /speech soon.

These two love me, and I don't really know why. Probably because I am a hero, hell, I think that's the only reason Amy was interested in me in the first place.

"Sonic, my boy" he starts.

I smile at him as he wraps an arm around my shoulder, pulling me close to his slightly taller form. Amy and her mother head into the kitchen to prepare dinner further and her father and I walk into his den.

"Congratulations about this engagement here! I am glad it is you, son. You're a great choice for my daughter, couldn't have chosen better myself."

I fight hard to resist rolling my eyes and I keep my polite smile on display. "Thank you, sir. It's really good to hear that from you."

He directs a hand towards a brown leather chair off in the center of the room for me to sit down in.

"Want a drink?" He asks, walking over to a tiny bar in the corner of the room.

"Sure."

The whole room gives me a weird vibe. I feel like I am in a professor's office in a University, although, that is what Amy's father does for a living so it is expected. The expensive looking desk sits in front of a big picture window, giving a view of their perfect backyard. The expensive, sleek laptop is sitting upon his desk amongst many papers. The whole room is mostly dark oak. The floors too, are lain out in shiny wood, with the exception of a few rugs here and there to prevent scratches.

The whole house is furnished to a T; her family sure does have money. You could just tell that Amy was spoiled rotten as a child. Her parents are so obsessed with their daughter that if I broke off the engagement...they would probably send out a hit man after me.

It's getting to the point where if I don't tell her soon, I may not be able to get myself out of this whole mess at all, and then just live miserably my whole life. I've actually considered it.

He turns back around, two small glasses filled with whisky coming towards me. I politely thank him as he hands me one and we engage in the conversation of, of course, Amy. Him telling me how proud he is of her, how perfect we are together, how we were meant for each other...

So this is where Amy gets it from. She talks just like him, even when she was twelve. No doubt that her mother is the same way. She'll probably grab me after dinner with this same exact conversation.

I tune him out the same way I do Amy. I come in with the occasional "yes, sir" and nod a lot, a sincere look on my face so he thinks I am serious to dedicating my life to her.

Every breath I manage to breathe through this whole mess, I hope with every particle of life in my body that Shadow hasn't found out about this. Not until I at least fix it. I can't let him find out from some one, from some newspaper. I need to tell him, but it needs to precede 'I left her for you.'

But with luck and probability not being on my side...he most likely has known for a few days.

Amy hops in the den, and clasps her hands together, her green skirt swaying as she walks, "dinner is ready boys. Hurry before it gets cold." She shoots out a wide smile, almost blushing actually, and goes off into the dining room, where her father and I both follow.

As I chew on my perfectly cooked steak, I'm constantly prodded with questions from Mr. and Mrs. Rose. How Amy and I first met, how I proposed...oh, they just loved that story. I didn't give their precious daughter a perfect proposal. I could tell they were biting back their tongues to be polite about that one. They ask me how our friends reacted about it, what date we want for it, what dress Amy would look beautiful in, how I should put my quills...

Sitting there in the midst of all this...I feel like I choke. I feel nothing left inside of me, like my face is being pulled down with two sets of pliers. My heart skips a beat and I can just feel the vomit starting to boil within my stomach lining. I want to jump out the window, land on knives, and feel them stab at my insides, and as I would lay there, a shadow of him would appear over me, laughing at me...knowing everything would end this way.

This balloon is about to pop.

I can't take this. I am usually one to crave for the center of attention, to feel like I should be the only thing to focus on but now I want nothing more then to crawl under the earth, and be left alone. This isn't me!

I feel like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...and Mr. Hyde is beginning to piss me off.

I need to escape.

I feel the pain well up inside of me and it turns to ambition, to need, the need to get the hell out of here, and out of all this stress. I literally cannot take this any longer.

Before I practically run out the door, I manage to throw an excuse at them, that I wasn't feeling well and needed some air, so to not draw anymore unwanted attention at me.

I fling open the front door. I think I may have pulled it off its hinges and try my best not to slam it shut, but I don't think I succeeded too well in that.

On their perfect brick walk-way, in front of the perfect house, beside the perfect garden, I stand there, a complete mess, completely imperfect, realizing this is not me, I do not belong here, that I need to end this mistake I've driven myself head-on into.

I look up at the stars and I just want to pull each one out of the sky, ruining their beauty because I am everything but. I am a disgusting being, faking a relationship with a nice girl that I got with in the first place because I felt bad for her and it would look good for my image. And then I go and sleep with a guy, and I realize that love is not just something in the movies, that it is something that exists in his eyes, his breathing, his voice, him. But instead of breaking it off with the fake relationship to be truly happy I have to have my cake and eat it to.

I'm in a lose-lose situation here. No matter what I do; especially now since I waited so long, I am fucked. If I do break it off with Amy, I have all of this heat on me of everyone asking me "why? You two are perfect for each other!" but most of all, I have a horrible heartbreak on my hands. I can either keep his heart broken and keep hers together, or fix his and shatter hers. I know I look like the bad guy in this but I honestly don't want to hurt anybody! I don't and that's what put me into this situation in the first place. I'm selfish, yet unselfish...and that is an awful combination. I wish I could just be one or the other.

I hear the door creek open lightly and her heels click on the brick path as she approaches me.

"Are you alright? You looked like you were going to be sick at dinner." She curls her arm against herself, pulling her hands further insider her camel-colored coat.

I turn around unable to face her; I can only picture what will come in a matter of minutes. My words, her face shrieking with disgust and pain, all of her tears...this is the last thing I want to do to her but it needs to be done. I need to fix this, I need my life back. I need him back...

I need myself back.

"Sonic?" I feel a gentle hand on my shoulder.

I need to just blurt it out before I second guess myself again and let my conscience kick in and screw me over. I sigh and turn around abruptly, forcing her hand to fall.

"Amy?" I look straight into her emerald eyes as the words sit on the tip of my tongue with the two of us only a mere foot apart. They are so wide and bright, so beautiful...I bite my tongue and spit out the words because I am on the verge of holding them back again. I can't do that. "I can't do this."

She smiles. "It's okay. They are only my parents-"

I interrupt. "No...not that." I look down at both of our shoes; I can't bear to look at her. "Me and you...I can't do it. I'm living a lie and I don't want to anymore."

"Wh...What?" She chokes out, going through shock before sadness.

I bite my lip, might as well tell her everything. I've lied to her long enough; she should know all that happened, she at least deserves that much. "I..I'm in love...with someone else. I've been cheating on you, Amy."

I clench my eyes shut. I never realized just how bad that sounded before.

Silence hangs in the air and it is so heavy my lungs feel like they are being crushed. I manage to lift my heavy head and see hers now looking down, focused on the cold ground.

"...I know." She confesses quietly.

She is no longer the only one in shock out here. How could she know? How could she have not confronted me about it?

"I thought if I just waited long enough, you'd realize just how much you love me. I thought that's what finally happened when I found the ring. I didn't think you could possibly...love him for real."

I stood there, blinking, my jaw agape. The only words flowing through my head are 'You have got to be kidding me.'

She lifted her head, her eyes shrink-wrapped in tears, and I see a newfound hatred I've never, in all my ten years of knowing this girl, witnessed well within them.

"I guess I was wrong, huh Sonic? You're just like everyone says you are...a selfish bastard."

I step back with one foot, trying to think if this is really the same Amy from ten minutes ago. The kind, adoring, loving Amy I've always known.

And...everyone doesn't really say that about me.

She whimpers lightly in tears, and I actually feel a hole drilling through me at how sad she looks, like her world has been drained of all its color and life. "A dog? Seriously, I'm not that stupid. I knew you were upset over him." Her voice is soft yet cold.

She sniffles and wipes a few tears that snuck onto her cheeks.

Her head slowly lifts, and she tries to gain her composure, standing tall as she asks me "Look into my eyes and tell me that you don't love me."

I stare at her face, avoiding her eyes, completely surprised at what she says. Maybe I do...or maybe my conscience is just screaming at me to love her because I feel so terrible that I hurt her that I feel lower then dirt.

My eyes lift to hers, but I close them, only for a moment, actually unprepared for what may happen within the next few seconds. I take a deep breath, open them, and our eyes meet. I stare deep into hers. Past the iris, the pupil, into her soul, trying to see if I do in fact love her...But all I see is red. The crimson of his eyes and how they used to stare into mine with love that only could be found in those pools of red if truly searched for. I find nothing in her eyes, beauty, but it is empty.

I really don't love her and everything has been a lie. Our whole relationship was completely fake. Apparently, she knew all along about Shadow but kept it from me, competing with him to hold on to me.

She lost.

"I don't love you, Amy." My voice is low, just above a whisper, and I say the words before I realize I wanted to say them, which I didn't. I didn't want to be so blunt to her and make matters worse.

A few silent tears slip down her cheeks again as we stare into each other's eyes for a few more seconds, both hoping something else would come, but it doesn't. She only pulls the ring that I had "given" her off of her finger and gently places it in my hand. I clench it tightly and I look down at my closed fist, still trying to process that this is ending, and that I can't make her feel better, no matter how much I want to.

She inches towards me and kisses my cheek for more then a few seconds, but when she finally pulls away she whispers in my ear, "I love you, Sonikku. I always will, but I never want to see you again."

She steals one last look into my eyes and walks back into her house, her head cast down, and the last thing I see of her is her face, avoiding mine, as she shuts the door between us.

I stare down at my closed fist again. I think of all the times that I wanted this moment to happen, and how happy I thought I would have been, only to realize how unbelievably sad I feel. Not that I've lost her as my girlfriend, but the fact that she said she never wanted to see me again. I don't want her out of my life completely; she was always a good friend, a kind individual...

I'm saying now how kind she is, and I've treated her like absolute shit.

I really am a selfish bastard.

I sigh, turning on my heel, directing myself towards my car that's just sitting there. I sit in the driver's seat and stare at the steering wheel blankly, my face emotionless. I feel awful. She is probably in their crying her eyes out to her parents that now hate me more then anything. And to think, not even an hour ago, they were giving me lectures to how I will never hurt their daughter.

I turn on the ignition and begin to drive home.

As I drive down the dark street, dimly lit with rare streetlamps, I wonder if that was the right thing to do. It's hard to even press my foot on the accelerator to move faster. It's like my body is unwilling to function.

But then...my foot presses faster. I think of him. I think of how I can get him back and the thought of leaving her has actually left my mind. My slate is empty, I am single again. I can have the one I love. Screw my image, screw what everyone thinks, I love him and that's all that matters.

Now...I just have to hope that he still loves me.
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