Chapter Text
Amy could already see through the bedroom window the planet they were going to land on, green meadows and crystal clear bodies of water, floating through the universe. She leaned forward, resting her arms on the windowsill, resting her head on her gloved palms.
As Mobius could see, even though Little Planet wasn't there yet, it was beyond her, but that was why her house appeared above a lake on an island forgotten by everyone who lived on the planet below. The home of the Times Stones had strange quirks and did only what it wanted, something Amy understood and learned early on not to question.
It was a beautiful place to land. She loved traveling through the universe filled with purples, pinks, deep blues; countless stars radiating energy from chaos and suns pulsing like a heart. But she also liked planets bubbling with people to see and talk to. She would need to get to know them if it was her mission to keep their futures bright one day.
Being a time rider meant watching over the lives of all the galaxy's inhabitants. And Amy liked knowing who those lives were; it helped her stay focused on her opinion.
So she found herself awake past her bedtime, observing the landscape. To study the terrain that would be graced by her home. Of course, she should have been in bed.
But all for the mission!
"Amy Rose," Marigold's typical warning tone rang through the room, and Amy stiffened for a moment before her thoughts caught up with the fact that she should be moving very quickly to bed now. "Why aren't you asleep?"
Amy jumped out of the window, hiding under the soft covers embroidered with pink flowers. Her entire room was a variation of pink and red colors. Flower decorations, colored stones, mechanical parts from her piko-piko hammer, plants, and other knickknacks were scattered across the marble floor, drawings were piled up on the wall, and books covered the shelves on the walls. It was a space so cluttered that it could be mistaken for a store. A flower shop, if the patterns of roses on almost everything were any indication.
"I'm already asleep," her voice came muffled from under the fluffy, soft layer of the sheet. As if she had never left.
"Are you sure?" The rustling of feathers made her peek over the blanket. Marigold had an amused smile, and Amy knew her plan had failed. The masked golden owl must already know the truth; she knew her too well for that.
Although there was no way Marigold could not know about several things. Nothing can be hidden from someone who can unfold time at will.
That's the thing about the guardians of time. All of them, without exception, had this forged ability. After a lot of sweat, training, and a little help from their technology built for this purpose, they could bend the energy of chaos into something more temporal and controlled.
Kronos Energy, they called it. Using the power of the Time Stones themselves. Devices that could take anyone to the future or the past.
Although she didn't need to or do that to her. The masked golden owl had already sworn never to use her powers on her. Something about respecting free will or something like that.
"No," Amy admitted, pouting, defeated, sitting down on the bed and running her hand over the wrinkles in her pink nightgown. "I can't sleep."
"I noticed that." Marigold perched on the footboards, her voice soft and slightly concerned. "Did something happen?"
Amy gripped the edge of the sheet a little tighter. "Nothing, it's just... Mobius is so big."
Marigold nodded, an amused smile on her beak. "Yes, it's a very large planet."
"It makes us look really small," Amy mused, turning her head to look at the place once more.
The masked golden owl chuckled. "This is Little Planet, so..."
"Why did we stop here in the first place?" Amy interrupted, finally asking what had been on her mind all afternoon. There were countless worlds in the countless galaxies of the universe, and...she was curious.
"Well, the Chaos Emeralds were made here," Marigold replied with a knowing gleam in her eyes. The story of the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald, of course. Jewels forged with extraordinary powers that ended up in the wrong hands, causing the deaths of thousands.
"But they're hidden now, taken far away from Mobius." And no one knew where. Well, no one except the owl clan.
Amy once asked Marigold if there was no way for time knights to know. And although apparently they could, they would choose not to know.
That being able to see how time unfolded did not mean doing so all the time. That protecting the universe and its inhabitants was also about respecting their choices, their right to choose their futures.
It sounded a little strange to Amy every now and then. The time riders were known to interfere if things got out of control, if the good future was threatened too much. However, Marigold said it was in extreme cases. On occasions when the needs of many had to take precedence.
That their mission, above fighting for a good future, was to guide people towards it.
And that the owl clan asked for secrecy, something kept only for them, in the name of their mission.
So her people respected that.
"Yes, but they were still made there." Marigold leaned over, stroking her head and getting her ready for bed. "It's getting late—"
"Why can't I come down?" The words practically leapt from Amy's mouth, and the masked golden owl backed away. Emerald eyes met amber ones.
Marigold let out a weary sigh. "We've already talked about this. The planets can be very hostile, and you're too young. It's better not to take any chances."
"But you will," Amy complained, biting her tongue shortly after. She had to stop saying things that no one could know without seeing into the future.
The owl arched one of the feathers above its eyes. "And someone's predictions are getting better and better." Amy looked away from Marigold's scrutiny. "What did you see?"
"Not much, it's still difficult," she replied, turning back to face her guardian.
Amy could do the same thing that the time riders' technology could do... without any technology at all. Pure chaos energy was the source, apparently. Which meant that with a little training, Amy could travel alone through time into the future and, now in the present, have flashes of what she would eat for lunch. Sometimes for dinner.
Her powers were nowhere near under control, but she could see specific possibilities if she concentrated hard enough. Marigold promised to help her, although Amy liked to practice alone.
Even if it caused him some occasional headaches.
Neither of them ever knew why she could do that. But it didn't matter. Marigold always said that it was her power and hers alone. That it didn't mean she was obliged to become a knight. That gifts shouldn't dictate everything in the grand scheme of choices.
It didn't stop Amy from wanting to follow in her footsteps, though. On the contrary, it made her crave it even more. Although the masked golden owl didn't appreciate how she circumvented some orders to learn more with her little tricks.
"What about the past?" Marigold asked.
"It's easier. And more boring." Because it wasn't fun. Anyone could do that!
"You'll be able to travel wherever you want soon. But it's safer here. At least for now." She was worried, Amy knew she was worried.
"Okay," she conceded with a sigh.
"It's time for bed." Marigold wrapped her wings around her in a soft, feathery hug. "Good night, Amy."
The masked golden owl left the room, and Amy snuggled deeper into the mattress. She loved Marigold. She really did.
… but she also loved adventure.
Amy closed her eyes, a large grimace spreading across her face, whispering her little secret to herself. "Mobius, here I come!"
The arrival on the new planets was incredible.
The energy of chaos pulsed beneath the surface of Little Planet, multicolored lightning crackling, as a wind began to blow and gravity pulled everyone toward their new landing spot. They didn't land every month. Some months, they just floated through the universe, and when they did land, it was rarely in the same place.
With Mobius, however, it was different.
They would be there that same month, every month, every year. Without fail.
Amy said goodbye to Marigold with a tight hug, the owl smoothing her new clothes with her wings before throwing one of the transport rings.
Jumping from the planet to the ground was not really a viable option.
White feathers with scattered golden details, and soon the golden-masked owl was nothing more than a blur in the sky.
She watched her mentor disappear into the blue sky in seconds. Amy remained where she was, the grass in the flower garden of the house where she lived tickling her legs.
The blue sky must have been her favorite thing in the world. Everything always seemed so... free, so new!
It could be like that for me one day. She didn't want to complain. Winning wasn't her style, not at all. But... she couldn't help feeling trapped.
It wasn't that Marigold was authoritarian, but the mentor sometimes worried too much. Amy felt restricted. She wanted excitement, adventure!
And you couldn't get that by sitting indoors or studying all the time. She needed to "mature," of course, Marigold always told her when Amy asked about exploring, but she thought it was time for something more practical.
"Time to put Operation Explorer into action," she whispered to no one in particular.
If she was going to do it, she had to do it right. Marigold still had a point about the galaxy being dangerous. Fortunately, she had a few cards up her sleeve.
"Okay." She frowned, concentrating all the chaotic energy she could muster, pink energy flowing through her quills toward her hands.
Make the energy take shape by focusing on one thing, Amy could almost hear the owl's voice.
Summoning weapons of choice from pure energy, bringing weapons from a space that was outside of space. Of course, hers wasn't as sophisticated as that of a time knight, but it did the job.
The pink energy began to stretch and expand. A red and gold hammer sprouted in her hands, and Amy smiled.
Her Piko Piko Hammer was her favorite thing.
"Defense weapon working well." With an open movement of his hands, the hammer shattered in the air. Now for the most important part.
Closing her eyes and intertwining her fingers, Amy once again channeled the energy. The ground beneath her changed, and the darkness gave way to an intense glow. Now she just needed to focus on what she wanted to see. If it were the technology of the plates, she would travel between the past or future of the same place she had left. But her case was more like moving forward in a story.
She opened her eyes, finding herself in the landscape of Mobius, a multicolored landscape replaced by pink in different intensities and saturations. "Time to see what awaits me."
She saw open fields and huge loops. She searched everything she could; the scenery showed countless plants and animals but no threats. There was no time for any variables to appear and change what undoubtedly looked like a peaceful future.
That's when she saw it. A blue blur.
Amy blinked, then blinked again.
Nothing had ever had different colors when she saw the possibilities. Only an immense amount of energy could change that, at least she theorized when she stopped to think about it. Following the stain, a myriad of possibilities ran through her mind: was it someone dangerous? Was it someone who was after the jewels and was hiding to climb up? Had Marigold been serious, was she really in danger?
All her thoughts dissipated when she saw the source of this anomaly.
It was... a hedgehog. Just like her. It didn't look much older and had a smile on its face.
A child just like her. Maybe... a friend!
She had to see what would happen if she talked to him. The landscape broke apart and reassembled itself, the blue boy now appearing alongside her bright pink form. They ran together, played, laughed, and talked.
It seemed... fun. Very intense, but joyful. A smile blossomed on her face.
Yes, she now had a hedgehog to find.
"What do you like most about Little Planet?" Sonic asked her, his recurring curiosity dripping from his voice.
They stopped in a field of flowers after a race to rest. Of course she wouldn't beat him; Amy didn't need her temporal abilities to predict that you can't beat the fastest thing in the universe. But Sonic liked having company on his races, and she proved decent enough at it to be able to keep up with him relatively closely.
It's all about the journey, not the finish line, that sort of thing.
They had known each other for a week, and Amy couldn't remember a time in her life when she had had so much fun. It was exciting to have someone with as much energy and enthusiasm as she did. Her life was exciting, but it could be quite boring at times. Too many rules, too many people telling her how to act.
Very emotional. Very intense. Not very mature. Someone with a lot of potential and power, but who could be lost because Amy didn't "know how to behave." That someone who was training to be the future guardian of the Time Jewels should take things more seriously.
She didn't have that here on the island. Here she was Amy Rose, a girl who played with her friend, Sonic. He didn't care if she was intense, exaggerated, or emotional.
A friend who loved to bombard her with questions at the most unusual moments.
Fortunately, Amy didn't mind at all.
"They don't stay in the same place. It doesn't matter if we stop or keep traveling. It's never boring." Little Planet was free in its very essence, pulsing with life and energy. Always presenting new things. "I hate being bored." Because life was too short to be wasted hiding in the same place.
"Me too. Although my island doesn't travel as much as I would like." Sonic was not at all secretive about his complaints about his supposedly uneventful life.
Amy rolled her eyes. "But in that case, it's you who can't stop, Mr. Blue Blur," she teased playfully, placing a freshly finished flower crown on the blue hedgehog's head.
Sonic had express prohibitions from his guardian and lived on a small island in the middle of nowhere. Still, when Amy tuned her visions to what he had already done, she encountered the most dangerous things under all the suns.
Talk about being addicted to adventure.
"You're jealous because you can't run as fast as me." Sonic stuck out his tongue, flashing a mischievous smile.
"I can see things in time, please," she replied, crossing her arms and raising her head to its full height with petulant pride.
"What's that?" Sonic said, abruptly changing the subject as expected given his short attention span. "Seeing the future?"
She thought for a few seconds before answering. "Fun. Kind of weird, too. The future changes a lot. It's not something that's certain all the time."
"What makes you change?" And Amy had asked herself that so many, so many times.
"Anything. Everything can change the future. Sometimes what I see changes right away!" Sonic seemed a little fascinated by this latest information.
"You look like the Time Stones," he said, tilting his head to the side.
Amy shook her head. "Nah, they rewrite time. They change reality. Whatever they want to exist comes into being; they find a way to change history so that it can exist."
"Scary," Sonic declared uncomfortably.
"That's why we have the Knights of Kronos." Because it was too much power. Bringing in anything anyone wanted was the kind of thing that could shatter known reality.
The kind of power that attracted the worst kind of people, if history books are any indication.
Sonic hummed. "And do they use the jewels?"
"Not much. Just to see how bad the future is going to be." Because even her clan didn't know everything, not without help.
Sonic adjusted the crown of flowers on his head. "You live there, maybe you could take me to see them one day."
Usually, this request was made by criminals. Malicious people who wanted the jewels for themselves. But Sonic had a distracted and sincere smile on his face.
Amy shrugged. "Maybe I will."
"The people who created the rings came from Little Planet, you know?" She blurted out the information, stretching her arm to reach the branch above.
Sonic's voice came from beneath her. "You're lying now."
They were in a climbing competition on one of the island's particularly large trees, according to the blue hedgehog.
Amy, predictably, was winning. "No, it's true! We have a part of the planet just for industries and inventions!" She grabbed the branch, using her strength to propel herself forward.
"You only said that to distract me so you could get to the top first," Sonic retorted from below, his eyebrows furrowed and his mouth pulled down into a frown.
Amy placed her hand over her heart, feigning offense before smirking. "I would never do that." Her eyes sparkled with mischief, if Sonic's deepening frown was any indication.
He snorted before climbing another branch. "Are you serious?"
Amy decided to give him a little leeway. "Yes, although it wasn't the Time Knights this time. It was a group of scientists who were fleeing their war-torn planet and developed the inventions sector. Then they left the planet, distributing the rings, and the rest is history."
" And that's why you have one of those with you all the time?" He nodded at the ring attached to the white sash around her waist.
Yes. In fact, that's how most people leave and return to Little Planet. people leave and return to Little Planet. Even the knights of time," explained she, arriving at the finish line at the stipulated time. She sat down, watching the blue hedgehog struggle as it climbed.
"What they do so much. You know, besides protecting the good future?" Sonic asked, by a little not slipping on the branch that supported his foot.
As I have already said, they document the planets. They write about the people who live there, their customs, how they live. They also make maps, drawings, assemble the main library of Little Planet." Amy left the place climbing down some branches and grabbing Sonic's hand just in time before he slipped from where he was holding on. "In addition to helping to bring new inhabitants."
"They who take the people?" He asked, confused, climbing now with her help.
"They help them to go. The person can return at any time but the majority do not do that." Amy had already seen hundreds arrive at Little Planet. And she could count on her fingers who should leave. "I think that if they get used to traveling."
"Was it like that with you?" Sonic asked, if balancing on the branch that was the finish line.
"It was, but I don't remember much about it." She turned toward the landscape. You could see almost the entire island from there. "In my memories I have always been there, it's no different from me being born."
"Yes, you told me." Sonic turned to her, but Amy was still looking at the horizon. "Can they find people anywhere?"
"Yes," she replied, without a trace of doubt.
"Do you mean that you would find me in any place?" And there was a certain expectation in Sonic's voice.
"It's already very easy to do that." And the cheerful sparkle in Sonic's green eyes showed that she had answered correctly.
" So you're saying you would win a game of hide and seek? " The petulant tone used by the blue hedgehog was not lost.
"Is it a challenge?" Because if it were, Sonic would discover quickly that she not only was great at hide and seek, as that was the game in which she was the best.
"Maybe." He was lost.
Amy began to climb down from the tree. "Get ready to lose."
Because Sonic was her best friend. And Amy Rose would find her best friend no matter where she went.
"The truth is, my powers aren't exactly seeing the future," Amy mused, watching Sonic try unsuccessfully to carry his Piko hammer. She was sitting on a rock, her legs crossed and her chin resting on her hand. On a nearby rock, her chin rested on her fist.
"I knew it!" he boasted, raising his fist. Bad idea, since it caused him to lose his balance and fall headlong toward where the hammer was hanging.
"It's actually seeing the timeline," she explained casually. Sonic had asked to try lifting her hammer. Amy had said he wouldn't be able to because it was too heavy and that he would hurt himself. He insisted, and now Amy would let Sonic suffer the consequences of his actions.
"Okay... now I'm confused," he said from the floor where he was sprawled, his hand still holding the red cord, lying on his back.
"Past, future. Both." Amy explained, raising two fingers to illustrate. "But I prefer to focus on the future," she stood up, brushing some dust off her pleated skirt.
Sonic struggled to his feet, leaning on the hammer handle. "Why?" Sonic asked as he stood up, still leaning on the hammer.
"Because you can't change the past. Sure, sometimes it's good to see where a situation came from, but in general it's just... restrictive." Because you couldn't change the past. Of course, you could learn from it, but after a while it became repetitive. Not when time was moving in another direction.
"Wait. Is that how you found out my name?" Now finally standing, Sonic explained, his eyes looking like they were about to pop out of his face.
"You talk to yourself a lot." That was all Amy said before effortlessly raising her hammer and making him disappear into pink chaos energy.
"Ames, that's a huge violation of privacy!" he exclaimed angrily, his arms crossed over his chest.
"And that's the other reason I don't really like seeing the past." Because Amy usually saw things she shouldn't have, and people didn't like having their personal moments invaded. Even if it was unintentional, as in this case.
"Unbelievable, what kind of rider are you going to be?" He teased, narrowing his eyes.
"An excellent one. And I'm sorry. It's involuntary, I didn't intentionally want to see you talking to yourself. I... I'm still learning to control my power," she explained, looking away.
"Oh, it's okay. No problem," Sonic corrected himself, as if he hadn't been super angry moments ago. He paused for a few moments, something clearly sprouting in his thoughts, before speaking. "Ames, would I be a good knight of time?"
She stared deeply into his eyes for several seconds before answering, "No."
"Hello?!" He looked so indignant. His eyebrows were furrowed and he was ready to refute. Teasing her best friend was a guilty pleasure, and it would be much less so if Sonic didn't get angry so quickly and jump into an argument with her without thinking twice. Of course, there was no real intention to cause harm or hurt feelings there.
Amy stifled a laugh before speaking. "You would make a good hero, though."
All signs of argument were washed from his face. "You're confusing me again."
The corners of her lips lifted. "Do you know the main way that the guardians of time maintain a bright future?"
"Fighting villains!" Sonic replied, striking a heroic pose with his fists raised.
"Helping the heroes," she corrected, raising a finger as if giving a super important explanation. "Strategy, giving advice, using weather skills to their advantage, working as a team. And you're more about... jumping headfirst into the action."
"But you could defeat evil without help," Sonic observed, his head tilting to the side.
"You can't do anything alone, Sonic, not to mention that we can't interfere in people's futures like this. They need to choose what they want." Because above all else, the Knights of Kronos defended a future where everyone could—as long as they didn't hurt anyone, of course—choose what they wanted.
"And why would I be a good hero?" Curiosity sparkled in his emerald green eyes.
She smiled at her friend. "Because you inspire people. At least you inspire me, and," Amy took a deep breath before turning to Little Planet, continuing, "being a knight of Kronos can be pretty sad. And I don't want you to be sad."
A silence filled the air for a few seconds before Sonic spoke. "Thank you, Ames."
It took her a few more seconds to look at him again.
"You have to do it more slowly, the flowers will fall apart like that," Amy scolded, shaking her head. Sonic had asked to learn how to make a wreath, and although she felt in her bones that it could be a difficult task due to her friend's restless nature and lack of attention to detail, Amy would never say no to him.
"Do you think Longclaw will like it?" Sonic asked, slowing down as he traced his flowers.
"Every caregiver loves flowers. What do you think her favorite color is?" A determining factor for the perfect wreath, Amy knew from experience.
"Yellow ones!" Sonic replied without hesitation, raising the crown filled with sunflowers.
"Then it will be perfect!" she replied, making another braid of daisies and irises for Marigold's crown.
Amy cherished these moments. Of course, playing was always enjoyable, but stopping to chat and simply enjoying each other's company made her days on the island more precious. It was nice to have someone to talk to.
"Ames," Sonic said, pulling her out of her reverie, "what did you mean that day? That being a knight of time could be sad?"
"Have you been thinking about that all this time?" she asked, and the blue hedgehog looked away.
"Maybe." Sonic almost seemed uncomfortable, but to be fair, she had been super mysterious and a bit ominous in their last conversation.
"It can be sad because time knights have to know everything about people, Sonic. You know what makes them smile, but also what makes them cry. When you know so much about someone, there's no way you can't be sad," she explained. It was common for Marigold to come back with her head down from time to time. When you know someone so well, it was impossible not to feel sorry for her, said the golden-masked owl.
"Really?" Sonic's hair stood on end a little.
"Yeah, being so aware of other people's emotions can be kind of... overwhelming." The last word trailed off, with less enthusiasm than Amy would have liked to put into it.
Sonic's ears flattened against his head. "Why is it too much responsibility?"
"Because you start to worry too much." Amy remembered the looks on the faces of the others in the clan, how they always seemed to be on the alert. Waiting for something to happen to... anyone. The Knights of Kronos had that, that... strange paranoia.
"Is that going to happen to you?" And Amy's heart sank because her friend seemed so, so worried.
"Maybe," she replied, a small smile breaking out. "But I'll be fine, I promise."
Amy omitted that she was also sad because of the fact that time knights often died on their missions. That they had to ensure a good future at any cost. It was part of their oath. But Sonic was smiling now, and their flower crown was looking great, so Amy decided she didn't need to bring up that particular piece of information.
She knew he would be sad.
"Does Marigold ask a lot of questions? About where you go? I mean, you kind of spend all day off the planet." Sonic asked one day, as they drew the edge of Never Lake. "Longclawn asks me so many that I'm starting to run out of excuses."
"Marigold is out all day. I just need to be home at pickup time," she replied, adding another line to her Mobius landscape.
Marigold was a kind and gentle mentor, but that didn't mean she was any less busy. As one of the main leaders of a clan that cared for the future, Amy was no stranger to spending all day looking after herself, whether at home or wandering around Little Planet. She couldn't expect the golden-masked owl to stay with her every day.
And when the time came, Amy would have her own solo missions as well. Some might take days of travel. Knights of Kronos were no strangers to solitary work.
"And you're alone?" Sonic asked, the emphasis on the last word making her smile slightly. Of course he would find it strange; from what little Amy knew, Longclaw was the doting, overprotective mother type. Of course she would be available to Sonic whenever he wanted her.
It would seem nice, but that wasn't how she and Marigold worked, and that was okay.
Exactly.
"Most of the time, yes," she replied without looking up from her drawing.
"All the time? Ames, you live on a planet. Don't you see... anyone?" The question almost felt like a slap, and Amy stopped her pencil mid-stroke. Sonic must have realized he had touched a nerve because a heavy silence fell immediately afterward.
"It's... complicated. I have some tasks to do, and Marigold said I have to train. Keeping my vision of time under control is difficult." She finally looked up, meeting a pitying expression. He had to stop that; it made her feel uncomfortable. "And, um... some people think I'm... weird."
Sonic frowned. "Strange?" His tone was incredulous, as if concluding such a thing about her was irrational.
"Yes, but I don't mind. Training, reading, and exploring take up most of my day. I'm used to being alone now." Especially after all this time.
After everything that had happened before she arrived at Little Planet. How her vision of time frightened families, how her personality, her powers, everything about her frightened any potential parents. How she was tossed from home to home, frightening and disturbing any adult around her with knowledge that a child should not have.
Being left behind time and time again until Marigold came and rescued her. She explained how her powers worked and finally gave her a home where she could finally stay. So what if she wasn't the typical mother who stroked her quills every time Amy came home?
Marigold welcomed her, liked her, and, most importantly, always came back at the end of the day. And that was enough for Amy to know that Marigold loved her.
That was what mattered. Loneliness wasn't bad when you knew you had someone there for you at the end of the day.
"You're not weird, and you know what, if I lived there, I'd keep you company." Sonic smiled with one of those smiles that seemed to come from the heroes in storybooks. "We could play every day."
Amy snorted before commenting, "You would have been bored."
"It's impossible to be bored with you around, you're cool, Ames." And there was no trace of insincerity in him.
Amy felt her eyes sting a little. "Thank you, Sonic."
She was happy that at least one person was always there for her.
Marigold was acting strange.
Amy woke up feeling a little dizzy in the morning, her head spinning and her memories blurred. She tried to see if anything had happened, but the past only showed the same routine as always.
She spoke to the golden-masked owl, who had only had a troubled face since then.
She had asked Amy a million times if she was okay, if she was feeling sad.
If she wanted to say something.
And, honestly, Amy was just a little confused. Marigold spent the next few days at home, but other than that, nothing out of the ordinary happened.
After a month, Marigold returned to her duties. And so did Amy.
Although now she liked to stop more often to look at the blue sky. And watch some people run.
What if her room had more blue objects as time went by...
Well, it was just a newly discovered taste.
The thing about time is that it passes quickly. Too quickly for anyone to control.
And no matter how hard you tried to predict how it would unfold, it still found new ways to show that it was impossible to control it.
Amy grew up and learned to understand him better. She saw Vanilla arrive with Cream, who soon became her second home, and the little rabbit—along with the chaos creatures—became her best friend in the world.
She witnessed Sticks' rescue and adaptation to the planet, the only place where she found some peace from her constant pursuers, according to her, and a stable foundation in Amy and Cream, a small trio that the pink hedgehog valued as much as she did.
Until Big appeared, although Amy still didn't know who brought him or how he appeared. It didn't matter when he caught delicious fish and took care of the trio on some adventures.
But Amy can't predict the Metals.
Nor the damage they would cause.
It happened so fast. A galaxy appearing on the horizon, murmurs of trouble in the industrial sector on the planet. And then, one night without warning, pandemonium broke out.
The Times Stones pointing to all futures as bad futures was all that flashed through his mind before screams and blaster sounds began to ring out in the early morning.
Amy woke up frightened, running to the front door only to see the decimation of what had once been her village neighbors. Her eyes filled with tears, a twisted, wrenching sensation gripping her heart.
She instinctively drew her hammer, just in time to feel the familiar tingling of chaotic energy in her quills and eyes, narrowly dodging an attack.
The monster looked like a hedgehog. Stylized blue metalwork, and something flashed in the back of her mind. Almost familiar.
The thing attacked her. Which would soon prove to be a big mistake, because Amy was now a guardian of time, her training at its peak and her shock now turned to fury.
Only scrap metal and gears remained under the red and yellow hammer.
She gasped at the force of the blows before going to check on Cream, Sticks, Vanilla, and Big. Everyone was fine, and she managed to get them all to safety.
But Amy had to go.
Marigold was nowhere to be found at home, so she could only be with the other knights and the jewels.
And she wished she had never gone there.
Warriors Amy had known her entire life, all slain. Protecting innocents if she knew her clan as she did.
Marigold appeared, wounded, an army of those things behind her. A relieved gleam in her eyes when she saw them. They managed to escape from those...things, before regrouping with other survivors.
Days turned into weeks, which turned into months, and soon Amy realized that they had been fighting that evil metal army for a year and that she hadn't seen the blue sky for the same amount of time because the tyrannical master of those lifeless pests had covered Little Planet's nature in metal, dyeing both the sky and the earth red.
She was genuinely trying to assist the resistance.
Predicting attacks, avoiding catastrophes, trying to guess everything that would happen until her head began to ache and her body threatened to collapse under its own weight.
But even that wasn't enough sometimes. And often, she would arrive at a place only to see devastation and dying people, to whom she would sing until they fell into a sleep that Amy knew they would never wake up from. If she couldn't save them, at least she could comfort them.
Many people fled, and she didn't blame them. But not Amy. She couldn't.
It was her home, her planet. Her Times Stones and those of the knights' clan. And she would rather die in combat than hand over such absurd power to that mustachioed tyrant on a silver platter. Being a Knight of Kronos could be sad, so she would embrace that sadness, the pain that threatened to consume her every day, and turn it into fuel. A flame of determination to fight and ensure that no other planet would fall.
Until hope appeared alongside a devastating surprise attack and a seriously injured Marigold. She was caring for some survivors when a ring opened and the golden-masked owl pulled Amy inside without further explanation.
They fell in a wooded area.
She couldn't go home; Amy had to protect the jewels now. Protect the heroes who would stop those things, that army of Metal, who lived on that planet. Earth. Heroes that Marigold couldn't reveal when—for her own safety—she would find them, but she would go one day.
She said everything as she died in Amy's arms.
Amy buried her mother under a beautiful tree, surrounded by flowers.
She realized only after a few tears fell down her face that she was crying as she washed the blood from her gloves and clothes in a nearby lake.
Well... she was always terrible at controlling her feelings anyway.
She destroyed those despicable machines as if they were scrap metal.
After all, Amy had already gotten used to it after doing it for two whole years.
The heroes she was supposed to protect in order to save her home and planet Earth were finally here, and she swore she could scream with excitement! Removing her hood, she could see more clearly who was supposed to protect.
Bright blue eyes like the sky and green eyes like the park where she lived in New York.
He looked familiar, and a wave of euphoria washed over her. Probably because he was the hero she had been waiting for.
Of course, it could only be that.