Learning to Love Again: Part Eight

BANG!  BANG!  BANG!  The pounding echoed all throughout Sonic's house.  "Wha-?  What time is it?"  Sonic rubbed his eyes and looked over at the clock:  6 AM.  He groaned and rolled his eyes, wondering how he would make whoever was at the door pay for waking him so early.  Sonic wandered carefully through his house because he was still groggy.  Sonic had a very nice house, as being the main hero of Mobius paid him very well.  He lived like a typical bachelor would, if that bachelor had a lot of money.  With more than one big-screen TV and high-end gaming system, some good food and decent beer, and plenty of spare rooms for people, it was a sight to behold.  Sonic also didn't keep his house very clean, but he hired some maids to come by and clean every so often or if he was expecting company that he had to look nice for.  After a long walk across the house, he opened the door to find none other than Shadow the Hedgehog staring him down.

"Morning, faker."  Shadow held his world-renowned scowl perfectly.

"Shadow?  Man, what do you want!?!  Do you have any idea what time it is?"  Sonic threw his hands up in frustration.

"I don't need to sleep.  And I found out something. . . interesting last night."  Shadow now switched to a cocky smirk, with both the knowledge that something bad happened to Amy and the knowledge that she was dating Tails bringing it out.

"What do you mean?"  Sonic didn't put much thought into what Shadow had said; he didn't want to think at all this early in the morning.

"I ran into Rose and foxboy late last night. . ."  Shadow took delight in Sonic's confused look and paused.  "I wondered aloud why she wasn't out with you.  She didn't give me any details as to why, but she seemed so. . . hurt. . . when I asked her.  I know you know why she acted that way. . ."  Shadow's hands balled into fists at his side, and while Sonic did his best to snap himself awake and try to fight off Shadow, Shadow already tripped Sonic and had him pinned.  "And I'm not leaving until you tell me."  Sonic struggled for a moment before throwing Shadow off of him, and then took a swing at Shadow, which was slow and wide, allowing Shadow a quick counterattack to Sonic's exposed side.  Shadow knocked Sonic down again with a shin to the ribs, the momentum making him slide into the wall.  Shadow pinned Sonic just after he hit the wall.  "Now TALK."

"Okay, okay. . ."  Sonic went limp to indicate a surrender and sighed.  "It started early one morning when Bokkun came to me with a video message.  Eggman was slowly gathering the chaos emeralds for some new death ray that would destroy the world or whatever.  The message showed that he had five emeralds at the time, so I had to stop him, because it wouldn't be long before he could pry the other two away from whomever had them.  He insisted I go alone, or he'd kill most of the village with explosives he had rigged and hidden away.  He was in his secondary base, nestled in some mountain pretty far away from anyone.  Obviously, he was prepared for me.  I'd never seen so many robots before, and they all fired so many shots, that some of them HAD to hit me.  It took almost everything I had, but I was able to get two of the emeralds away and get out of there.  I went straight to Sally's from there.  No one had heard much from Eggman, and with an army and plan this big, someone had to know.  She was in the middle of some huge meeting with her mother and father, and a bunch of other royalty.  I tried to tell them what I saw, but even Sally dismissed what I had to say.  I guess they all thought that Eggman had given up for good.  I was already beaten up pretty bad, and I tried to tell them again, and they just. . . laughed and shooed me away.  They took the emeralds for safekeeping and I walked back home, wondering what I had done wrong.  And then, out of nowhere, Amy just jumps on me, and I. . . I lost it.  I yelled at her, cursed at her, and hit her away from me. . .Amy's a friend, but she startled me and went into her usual talk about marriage, and I couldn't handle that at the time, I just wanted to run away from it all, at least for a little bit, and that's what I did, until I realized what I actually did to Amy.  I apologized and she forgave me, but that doesn't excuse what I did. . ."  Shadow held an intense stare throughout the story, not moving a muscle.  After about ten seconds of silence, Sonic spoke up again.  "Now will you get out of here so I can go back to sleep?"  He struggled under Shadow's grip, but his efforts were futile.

"Fine, but one more thing, faker. . . when I saw Rose last night, she told me that she was DATING foxboy.  Imagine that. . ."  Shadow smirked, got up, and took out the green chaos emerald.

"Wait. . . what?"  Sonic stuttered out, trying to grasp what Shadow had just said.  He got no answer, and Shadow warped away with chaos control and a smirk still on his face before Sonic could grab hold of Shadow to stop him.  "Amy. . . and. . . Tails. . .?"  Sonic missed his lunge and fell to the ground, equal parts confused and tired.  "They're still asleep, I'll ask them later. . ."  He dejectedly trudged back to his bed, trying his best not to think about what he just heard, and fell asleep in a matter of minutes.

Rouge was wandering around the apartment, a bit confused at Shadow's sudden disappearance.  The green flash he made upon leaving had woke her up.  She knew Shadow would leave the house whenever he wanted for no reason, and although it worried her, she understood the need to simply be somewhere relaxing for a while, even if that wasn't at home.  She didn't question Shadow or think he was being unfaithful to her at all; she just knew that sudden and mysterious disappearances were part of who he was.  Her eyes swept the place just in case this wasn't one of his unannounced trips and something was actually wrong, and even though she did this every time he was gone and didn't explain it or warn her beforehand, nothing was ever wrong, she just had to wait until he came back.  This particular trip didn't take long, and another green flash caught her eye.  "Shadow!"  Rouge ran over to him and hugged him.  Shadow was taken aback, as it took him a second to get used to his surroundings after a trip with chaos control.

"Rouge. . ."  He limply put his arms around her, more focused on what he discovered at Sonic's house.  "Sit down, I've got something to tell you. . ."

"Hm?  What is it?"  Rouge let go and did as Shadow asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.
"I just got back from Sonic's house. . ."

"Couldn't you have waited?  It's six in the morning!"

"I was hoping to get some information out of him.  I figured it would be easier if he wasn't expecting me. . ."

"You wanted to know what happened to Amy. . ."  Rouge glanced at the ground in sadness as she remembered Amy's reaction from last night.  She looked back up to Shadow just in time to see him nod.  "And did Sonic tell you?"  Shadow nodded again, and Rouge paused for a second.  "Well?"  

Shadow took a deep breath and recited the entire story Sonic told him verbatim.  Rouge listened intently, nodding at certain points, and gasping in shock when Shadow described what Sonic did to Amy.  "I know he had a bad day. . . but that's still no reason. . ."  Her hands clenched into fists in anger.

"As much as I want to go back there and bash faker's head in some more, there's no point. . ."  Shadow said, a bit louder than normal.  "It wouldn't help anything. . ."

"So what can we do?"  Rouge threw her hands up.  

"Right now, nothing."  Shadow still had his composure.  "We just have to be careful, and try to make sure he doesn't do something like that again."

"Do you really think he would, Shadow?"  Rouge looked at him curiously, and after a moment, Shadow shook his head.

"No.  But, there's something else in that story.  We hadn't heard from Eggman for months, and now he shows up with a huge army and most of the chaos emeralds.  We need to watch him, too."

"I'll call G.U.N.  We'll have his bases monitored within an hour."  Rouge pulled out her phone and walked away from Shadow, muttering various security clearance codes and instructions into the phone.  After a couple of minutes, she hung up and walked back to Shadow.  "Done.  Now what?"

"Now you can go back to sleep.  I'm sorry I woke you."  Shadow walked over to Rouge and embraced her.  He had become much more sensitive to the feelings of others than he was before, but he still did not show it much, the only exception being when he was alone with Rouge.

"It's okay, hun.  But I will take you up on that."  Rouge gently leaned in and kissed Shadow, then turned and went back to bed.  "Don't wake me unless it's an emergency."
"Understood."  Shadow nodded and stared thoughtfully at the chaos emerald he held in his hand.

It was noon when Sonic woke up again.  He went back to sleep soon after Shadow left, but what he had heard about Tails and Amy pestered him, even in his sleep.  He took a quick shower while planning his next move.  He knew things were still awkward between himself and Amy, so he decided to ask Tails first.  After a couple of chili dogs, he was over at Tails's house in under a minute.  Amy was working at the flower shop at the time, so Tails was tinkering away trying to figure out how best to reduce drag on a new airplane he was building.  Tails heard the rapid and loud knocking, so he turned on the video feed.  "Hey, Sonic!  I'm back in the hangar!  What's. . ."  Since Tails had left the door open, Sonic was over there before Tails even finished.  ". . . up?"

"Hey, Tails.  What'cha working on?"  Sonic's gaze briefly turned to the plane, even though he was not very interested in it.

"Just trying to figure out how to make this plane go as fast as it can."  Tails had made a habit of trying to cut down on explaining all of his mechanical knowledge to anyone who did not understand it, which was nearly everyone.

"That's cool."  Sonic had a nervous tone in his voice, and spoke right as Tails finished his sentence.  "Hey, I haven't seen Amy in a while, how's she been doing?"  Sonic tried to sound casual, but he was failing miserably.  Tails shrugged.  He knew that Sonic knew that he talked with Amy a lot, but he thought he did not know about their relationship, and he still wanted to keep that a secret, at least for now.

"She's fine."   Tails turned back to the plane he was working on.

"Has she said anything about me?"  Sonic pointed to himself with his thumb.

"No. . ."

"When was the last time you talked to her?"

"Yesterday. . ."  Tails shrugged, but was getting annoyed quickly.  He got to talk to Sonic, sure, and he was glad Sonic was okay, but now that he was here it was all about Amy.  She doesn't want to talk to you, leave her alone!  Tails thought, even though he knew he was getting ahead of himself.  He was not comfortable with how this conversation was going, so he wanted to either end it or get to Sonic's real motive quickly.  ". . . why?"

"It's just, you've been seeing her a lot lately.  Something going on between you two?"  Sonic did not know that Amy had seen Tails a whole lot more than usual since they all got back to Mobius, as Amy did not tell even Sonic about seeing Tails as a good friend and makeshift therapist.  He was not sure if what Shadow said was true, and he did not want to jump to conclusions, but he was still curious.

"Yeah, we're friends. . ."  Tails could not hide the irritation in his voice.  Sonic thought for a second and decided to assume Shadow was telling the truth.  Even though they were rivals and loved to taunt each other, Sonic did not think Shadow would lie about something that big.  Usually it was a cheap shot about Sonic's speed, his strength, or his mother.  He did not know or think to ask how Shadow knew this, but he would trust his rival.

"Really?  That's not what Shadow told me. . ."  Sonic stared at Tails, seeing him freeze up and his ears prick up.  Sonic smirked, but then hung his head slightly.  "Tails. . . why didn't you tell me?"  Sonic spoke to Tails like he usually did, with Tails as his best friend.  Tails turned to Sonic, not expecting that response.

"Huh?"

"Why didn't you just tell me you were dating Amy?"  Sonic repeated, sounding, if anything, slightly hurt.

"I. . . I thought you'd be mad at me. . . and maybe Amy. . ."  Tails leaned his head forward, studying Sonic, still in slight disbelief.  Sonic frowned and gently kicked the ground.

"Well, you DID lie to me about it just now. . . but I understand.  I don't really deserve her after what I did anyways. . . "  Sonic was looking at the ground, and Tails blinked, still taken aback by Sonic's comments.  "How long have you been together?"

"Just a week."

"Okay.  Sonic's face turned serious, and he stared Tails down.  "Is she happy, being with you?"

"I. . . I think so."  Tails nodded.

"Good."  Sonic tried to nod and smile appreciatively, but could not do it.  "That's good."

"I hadn't heard from you in a while, Sonic, I was actually going to call you today.  What have you been up to?"  Tails tried to steer the conversation back to what the pair would usually talk about.

"The usual stuff I do when there's no work.  Kick back, relax, go out for a nice run. . ."

"Oh!  How's Sally?"  Tails had not seen Sally for a while, and remembered that Sonic had lunch with her recently.

"She's fine.  Got a lot less to worry about now that Eggman's been out of our way for a while. . ."  Sonic looked wistful for a split-second, and Tails saw it, but was not sure what it meant.  Tails wanted to continue this conversation to try to find out why Sonic looked like that.

"Yeah, I'm glad. . ."  Tails spoke quickly, as if trying to cut Sonic off, but then paused.  "So, she's got more time to see you, huh?"  Sonic lightly chuckled.

"Not like that, buddy."  Tails smiled, as the awkwardness was gone and he was getting closer to the answer he wanted.  "She's gonna have a kingdom to lead soon enough.  She doesn't have that much time to hang out with anyone anymore. . ."  Tails's smile disappeared when he heard Sonic talk.  The two of them had gotten along well, but things had gotten awkward and complicated between them on more than one occasion.

"Aww. . . I'm sorry, Sonic."  From some of the stories Sonic told, Tails had wondered whether the two of them were dating, but this was effectively an answer.  Sonic merely shrugged, trying to play it off as though it was not important.  Loneliness was getting to him, though, between the debacle with Amy and the unfortunate circumstances with Sally.  Sonic did not really want to discuss his emotions in general, though, so he wanted to either bring this conversation back to Tails or leave.  After a second's thought, he wanted to do the latter, as he got the answer he wanted from Tails while ensuring that Tails dating Amy would not harm their friendship at all, so he had no reason to be there anymore.

"It's okay."  Sonic grinned and gave his signature thumbs-up.  "I gotta run, Tails, catch you later!"

"Bye, Sonic!"  Sonic was out of the house before Tails finished talking.  Tails ran to the phone to call Amy.  Even though things with Sonic went well, he was still nervous, and ended up speaking between quick, shallow breaths.  "Amy?  Where are you?"
"Tails?  I'm in town.  What's wrong?"

"Sonic knows about us.  He came over this afternoon and told me that Shadow told him."  Amy took a deep breath, which Tails could hear on his end.

"What did he say?"

"He was upset that I didn't tell him, but other than that. . . he seemed fine with it. . ."  It was just now hitting Tails that Sonic was actually okay with him dating Amy.

"Oh. . . that's good. . ."

"Mm-hmm.   He mentioned something about Sally not having time for him anymore, though."

"Awww. . . the poor guy might be lonely. . ."  Amy was genuinely concerned for Sonic, and being with Tails made her think of Sonic as a friend more so than a love interest, so she was okay with Sonic and Sally getting together.  "That went better than I thought it would, though. . ."

"Yeah, me, too. . ."  A long pause followed.  "Just. . . it didn't look like he was in a good mood when he left, so be careful if you see him, okay?"

"Okay.  I'm actually going to the Chao Garden.  I doubt I'll run into him there."  Tails blinked and gasped slightly; Amy could barely hear it.

"What about Cream?"  

"It's her day off, she won't be there."

"Okay.  Have fun!"  Tails almost sounded like his usual optimistic self, but he was still a bit concerned with telling Cream after what he saw from her before he and Amy were dating.

"Bye, Tails!"  Amy hung up and kept running down the dirt path.  She had gotten off the bus about five minutes ago, and was nearly at the Chao Garden.  She had missed seeing Rosette, even if it was only five days since she last saw her.  She broke into a run, barely seeing Sarah as she waved.  A distant "Hi, Amy!" by Sarah was missed, and Sarah put Amy's name and time down as a visitor.

Rosette heard Sarah shout Amy's name, and her eyes widened.  "Chaoooooooooo!"  She flew
over to Amy and gave her a big hug.

"Awww. . . good to see you, too, Rosette."  Amy petted Rosette gently.  "What have you been up to?"  At this, Rosette let go of Amy and smiled, waving her arms.

"Chao, chao!  Chao, chao!"  Rosette then motioned for Amy to follow her.

"Okay, let's go!"  Rosette led the way, back through the main area of the park, all the way to a group of bushes that surrounded a few fruit trees in the far side of the garden.  Other than the small cave behind the waterfall, it was the most secluded spot in the park.  Amy froze when she saw what Rosette had led her to:  a polite, friendly chao with a red bowtie.

"Ch-Cheese?"  Amy stuttered out.  Rosette gestured back and forth between the two, as if to introduce them.  

"Chao, chao!"  Cheese nodded and pointed to Amy.

"So then, where's. . ."

"Cheese!  There you are!"  Cream came running up behind them.  When she turned and noticed Amy, her eyes went wide, and her hands covered her mouth.  "Amy!"

"Cream!"  Amy took a step back, partly out of shock, partly out of fear.

"I'm glad you're all right!"  Cream jumped over to Amy and hugged her, and Amy's arms were bound, so she could not return it.

". . . Huh?"  Amy blinked.

"I tried calling you all week, and you never picked up!"  At this, Rosette tilted her head in confusion, a question mark appearing over her head.  Cheese joined the hug, one arm around each of them.  Amy was talking to Tails on the phone a lot of the time, and did not have any form of call waiting, so she did not know about Cream calling.  Tails knew that Cream had called him, but was nervous about speaking to her after dating Amy, so he never picked up or switched calls.

"I'm sorry, Cream, I guess I was just busy. . ."  The group hug broke apart, and Cheese went to hover between Cream and Rosette.

"You know. . . come to think of it. . . I could never reach Tails, either. . ."  As she thought about it, her ears drooped.  "You've been talking to him a lot, haven't you?"  There was an unmistakable note of sadness and defeat in her voice.

"Yeah. . ."  Amy nearly choked up after hearing Cream's voice.

"Are. . . are you going out with Tails?"  Cream hung her head, and Cheese held onto Cream to comfort her.  Amy exhaled slowly.  She knew Cream would probably ask her, and although she meant to tell Cream about it, she hoped it would not be like this.

"Yeah. . . we've been going out for a week. . ."  Amy looked down, ashamed.

"Why didn't you tell me?!?"  Cream half-cried, half-screamed.

"I was going to tell you. . . I just. . . wasn't ready yet.  I thought you'd hate Tails and I for it."  Amy tried to calm Cream down, but Cream was not having any of it.  She was shaking, and tears were starting to flow from her eyes.

"L-Leave me a-alone, A-Amy. . ."  Cream's voice was shaking, and Cheese had tears in his eyes as he saw Cream's face.

"Cream. . . please don't. . ."  She reached out to Cream, and Rosette reached out to Cheese.

"Leave me alone!"  Cream turned and ran away, tears flowing down her face.  Cheese turned to Amy and pointed angrily at her.

"Chao, chao!"

"Chao!  Chao, chao!"  Rosette responded to Cheese, waving her arms and begging him to stop.  Cheese flew away, and he was crying as well.  Both their sobs echoed throughout the garden, and tears visibly fell onto the grass.  Rosette clung to Amy, who held her back gently.  Amy's eyes were wide, and her breathing was shallow.  She hoped Cream would be okay with Amy dating her crush, but it seemed the worst had happened.