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My existence in the vast space is… quite lonely. There is no air in here, no warmth. I’d shiver if I had skin and bones.
But I’m warm, scorching, even. A striking enigma to the space that surrounds me. I brighten the darkness. I burn from inside in ice. I have the whole universe circling me, I’m closer to dreams like no one had ever been.
Yet, it all feels hollow.
Because I’m alone. Nearest neighbour is lightyears away. There is no sound in here, just echoes from within.
Those echoes, are the curses my pathetic existence brings along. Because I’m made of energy, and it stores, it shifts, transforms, but it never disappears.
The energy never forgets.
A laughter, spreading like gentle breeze, is the first one I’ve ever felt. One good thing I vowed to never let go off.
The laugh of my mother.
I wasn’t always a star before, see, I was a Mobian once. A little hedgehog with quills so blue that they could put the sea and the sky to shame. Eyes green like emeralds, outshining the real deal.
Or so my mother would say, I didn’t know any better.
I doubt I ever will.
I held the power of the wind in my little palms. I could run faster than sound, I know that for sure.
I didn’t get to race the light.
It doesn’t matter anymore, though.
The second thing I remember of my life on Mobius, is screams.
Screams piercing the fire. Fire swallowing up homes. In the middle of it all, stood the ancients.
And they took us all down.
I was so naive, then. I tried to fight them off, rushed forward, and got captured swiftly.My mother was also captured, trying to save me.
Then, more screams.
I was tied to a wooden table. Binded by metal chains, cold against my skin. I was so delirious with pain that I didn’t know where my own scream ended and someone else’s began.I guess it didn’t matter, we shared the same pain.
Pain of losing the power, stolen from our very beings.
They had siphoned out our chaos energy.
Hundreds of hedgehogs, massacred, their soul taken before they could even dare to rest,binded to soulless, cold emeralds.
But they could only do it seven times.
Then, I took my last breath.
I was still alive by the time I became everything and nothing at once. I was alive in the energy, swirling, rebelling, as they tried to bind me to an emerald, along with many others.
So I made a wish.
I wanted to escape. I wanted to run away. I wanted to go where they couldn’t reach me, trap me, use me.
My wish was granted, and many others followed my lead.Now we are here, doomed to burn bright as we eat our own existence away, for as long as our fuel lets us.
Hundreds of hedgehogs trapped in little, colorful gems, an another hundred?
Trapped in stars.
At least no one can use me here. They can only watch from afar.
I got my wish, no complaints, no one can catch me now.
No one can reach me now.
When I was a little Mobian boy, I had always wondered if stars looked back when I did.
Now I know, they don’t. I don’t.
But I sense.
Every living being has a bit of chaos energy. And I can sense them all, feeling like little dots scattered in a bigger one, the energy of the planet itself.
They don’t shine, no, not like I do.
But they are there.
Maybe that’s enough.
They are faint, often times. Some flicker out then stabilize.Some always stay clear.
But when they get the brightest? That’s when I can actually hear them.
That’s when they make a wish.
There is some I frequently hear.
It’s usually a single word, help.
And everytime I hear it, I know that if I had a heart, it’d shatter.
With time I realized, that single, terrifying word, almost always comes from ones who can’t talk.
Animals, chao, babies.
Because the others are always full sentences, even though the essence stays the same.
“I don’t want to be alone anymore.” I hear this one sometimes, but very clearly. It’s from a little boy, voice firm, his strength shines through.
“I don’t want them to hit me!” This one is too frequent to my liking. It’s of a little child, voice trembling as he chokes on his words.
“Please, somebody, get me out of here!” This one is always the faintest. Like the owner of the voice doesn’t want to beg, but has no other chance.
And I try, I really do, to grant their wishes.
I have no idea if it works.
There is one wish, that I hear every night, brimming with hope instead of despair. A soft voice of a girl.
“I wish to meet my one true love, my hero!” She says, and she always shines the brightest.
Everyday, without giving up, she utters the same words. I can hear her smile from her voice. She gets me to believe that maybe, me listening to them amounts to something.
It should amount to something, because who’d talk to a soulless light everyday if it doesn’t?
As days pass, they all give up, one by one. First is the lonely boy. Second is the little kid, I last heard him utter ‘Please’ through his cries, the rest never came.
I fear for the worst.
Then the other, trapped one.The last I heard, he wished to stop hearing screams.
Whatever that meant.
I only had her, for a while, alongside the begs for help.
Then she fell silent too.
If I had eyes, I’d cry.
Because after that I’m sure, that I’m completely, utterly useless.
And I hate it.
Sometimes I wonder, if I should have allowed the ancients to trap me in an emerald instead.
At least I could be of some use.But I remember how she didn’t give up until now, I remember, I too can try, even if it might end up being futile.
So, on the day I last hear her, I make a wish.
“I want to grant their wishes.” I say, and they hear me.
Light drowns the darkness, and the ghosts of my kind surround me. One by one, they are reformed out of light,unreadable expressions on their faces.
I look at my own form, and realize I’ve been turned back into a hedgehog, too.
“Sonic.” The voice sends shivers down my spine. It’s my mother’s. Still soft and gentle, just as I remember.
“Mom.” I reply, and she smiles at me. The other hedgehogs watch us with warm smiles,it’s the first time we can all see each other after decades, maybe centuries of suffering.
“My son, only a shooting star can grant wishes, if you want to make their wishes come true, you’ll have to fall all the way down to Mobius.” She explains, and the other hedgehogs nod, appearently this is a common knowledge that only I was excluded out of.
“Fall… down?” I utter the words before I can even think, and my mother presses her lips together.
“Will I die?” I ask, and everyone shake their heads to sides.
“We are already dead, remember? We are made of pure energy. And energy can never disappear, it can only transform.” My mother says, and waits patienly as I try to make sense of her words.
“So, what will I turn into?”
“You’ll regain your body, Sonic, alongside your powers.” I try to hide my excitement,because my mom has a sad expression on her face. But I can’t help it, for many years I’ve longed to live again, and not just exist.
I walk up to my mother, and gently hold her hands. She averts her gaze,and I see her lower lip tremble.I pull her arms down, our height difference is still the same, I note, and she crouches down in front of me, like she used to. I let go of her hands, and turn her face towards me. She is crying harder now, and I place my hands on her muzzle, catching her tears away.
“You don’t want me to go.” I say, and she nods, then clasps a hand over her mouth to stifle her sobs.
“Why?” I ask, and she sighs as she pries my hands away from her muzzle, and holds them in her palms, her touch gentle as always.
“I’m scared,honey. What if they try to… hurt you again?” She says, bringing my hand up to her lips to plant a soft kiss. I giggle as she takes my scent in,and starts crying even more.
“I won’t allow them! I’ll be strong this time, mom! I promise!” I say, and she laughs through her tears.
“You’ve always been determined, Sonic. If you put your mind to something, no one could stop you.So I won’t try, now.” She says, her green eyes filled with fondness.
“If you won’t stop me, then come with me! We could grant even more wishes!” I say, and she shakes her head to sides with a little smile.
“I’ll keep watching over you from here, so that you can wish on me if you need it.” She explains, and I leap on her to embrace her for the last time.
“I love you, mom.” I whisper, and she squeezes me into her chest. I take her scent in, and vow to never forget.
“I love you, my little hero.” She whispers back, and lets me go.
As soon as she does, the light and the hedgehogs all disappear into darkness. I start falling, and the temperature rises. I tear through the dark space, heating up more and more until the planet I’ve lived for only ten short years appears in front of me. As I get closer, the dots on the planet shine brighter, and I hear so many wishes.
“A shooting star! I wish I’ll have a lot of money!” A flash of the face of a crocodile appears in front of my eyes
“I want to find someone to trust!” Now a bat appears, and so many others follow.
“I don’t want to be alone anymore.” I lit up, I recognise that voice, and I finally have a face to it, he is an echidna.
“I don’t want to be bullied.” Again, a familiar voice.It’s the crying boy, I find that he is a fox kit. Relief washes over me to see that he seems well.
“Get me out of here!” A sleeping face of a hedgehog appears, and it seems like he is in a liquid of some sort. As I get closer to the planet, there is one more voice I hope to hear, one that started everything in the first place.
“Dear shooting star, I want to meet my true love!” Her face finally appears, she is a pink hedgehog,a huge smile on her face.
But I don’t get to celebrate much, as I’m finally in the planet’s atmosphere. My descent grows more rapid, and in seconds, I crash right into a lake. The temperature drops, I can feel my quills form up first, then rest of my body follows.But before I can even take my first breath, I take in water. It fills my lungs, and pulls me deep.
I struggle,try to jump up, but to no avail, I’ve never been good with water.The only thing I can do is wish that somebody would see me drowning, and decide to help.
I can barely keep my eyes open. The last thing I see is a hand reaching down for me, but the water keeps pulling me deeper before I can reach back.Then everything fades to black.
When I open my eyes, my body forces the water out, and coughs wreck my insides. I’m laying on my side,and I’m thankful for it, as water easily drips down to the ground when I cough, instead of going back to my lungs.
I take a deep breath in. My vision is still hazy, but I notice someone is sitting beside me. My ears are clogged, so the words come very faint, and nothing makes sense.
After a few minutes, my coughs cease, and I sit up.
I rub on my eyes with my hands, and my vision finally becomes clear.
Standing before me is the hedgehog girl wishing to meet her true love.
She is the one who saved me.
A smile tugs on my lips, and she places her little hands on my shoulders.
“Are you okay?” She asks, and I open my mouth. I make a little noise, and realise that I failed to speak when she looks at me confusedly. So I just give a thumbs up.
I guess I’ll have to relearn everything.
“I’m glad! I’m Amy Rose! And you? Oh! I’m sorry! You are mute, right?” She says, and I shrug, I’m in no condition to explain what really is happening.
“Okay! Do you know how to write?” I ponder her question, and shake my head. My mother has tried hard to teach me to write, but I was always more interested in running.
“That’s alright! I can teach you.” She exclaims, and I nod. Then she grabs my hand, helping me up to my feet. My head spins, and I abruptly stop, forcing her to stop with me as well.
“Are you okay?” She asks, and I sit back again. When I tried to take a step, my legs trembled. Walking, especially running used to be the easiest things in the world for me. I duck my head, and look at the ground. She places a hand on my back.
“Hey, it’s okay to feel weak. You almost drowned back there! Let’s take a break.Then I can carry you to my house!” She says, and for a moment I wonder if I weren’t supposed to be her guiding star,and she was mine instead. I open my hands to sides, trying to ask that why I should come to her home.
Thankfully she gets me, and giggles.
“We are both soaking wet! You’ll get sick if you stay like this any longer!” In answer, I stand up, and shake myself off.The water splashes everywhere, and on Amy as well.My fur and quills puff up.
“Eww! But you look cute all puffed up like that so I’ll let it slide.” Amy says, and I gesture to myself, not believing that she thinks I’m cute.She reaches a hand to ruffle my quills in answer, and I pout.
“Yes, you’re very cute.” I cross my arms over my chest, and try to take a step. Sensing it,Amy gets ready to support me if I fall down, her hands hovering near me. I take one step, then two, and Amy whoops, encouraging me to get going. I clench my fists, I can’t let her down.Few more stable steps later, I laugh,and throw a fist in the air.
“Well done!” Amy says with a clap of her hands. Then she grabs my hand, and I raise a brow.
“Let’s go home!” She says, and I shake my head, trying to pry my hand away from her suprisingly strong grip.
“Why? Do you have a home?” She asks, and I avert my gaze.
“You don’t have parents either, do you?” She asks, and I smile, pointing at the stars. She looks up to the stars that shine even brighter now that I mentioned them.
“Are they watching over you?” Amy softly says, few tears gathering in her teal eyes. I nod vigorously, holding both of her hands in mine,my mother promised to watch over me.
“Do you think… my parents are watching over me, too?” She chokes out between sobs, and I hum in thought. I don’t know her parents, but if my mother can watch over me, I figure her parents can too, so I nod.She takes her hands away from mine, and wipes her tears. Then she embraces me, her short arms squeezing me close. Her clothes are wet, and I figure she too could be sick if we stay here any longer. So, without any warning, I start carrying her. She yelps,but settles into my hold easily.
“This way!” She says, pointing to north.
“My house is pretty close. So you won’t have to carry me for long.” She explains, and I smirk. Before she can ask me the reason, I take off, and she screams, holding onto me with dear life. I skid to a stop when Amy points to a little wooden hut, placing her down to the ground. She loses her balance,and I catch her before she falls.
“Thank you.” She gently says, then her brows furrow.
“But! Why didn’t you warn me before you… took off! You dummy!” She lands a soft punch to my shoulder, and I act like it hurts, whining and rubbing on my shoulder.
“I don’t care! You deserved it!” She says with a pout, and I grin.
“Whatever, let’s go in!” She exclaims, opening the door and ushering me inside.She explains she’ll take a shower and change into new clothes, and I take a seat in her pink couch. Amy grabs a blanket, and places it on me, and says she’ll be back shortly.
I hug the blanket close, feeling warmth seep into my bones. Amy’s house is quite small, and reminds me of my old house.I notice the wall clock, and read that it’s eight p.m. . I thankfully paid my mom enough attention to learn reading the clock. I look outside the window,the sky is dark, and there is no sound, the inhabitants of the planet slowly turning in for the night.
I look at the framed photos on the wall, next. One of them is of Amy when she was a hoglet, I can’t help but coo at how cute she was. Then, the next is her mother holding her,and her father embracing her mother, she is still a hoglet. There is a few that she is older in, one is her decorating a cake, cream on her face and nose. In another, she is drawing, as her mother watches her with a proud look on her face. It’s bittersweet, knowing that her dad and mom are gone, just like mine. Still, I remind myself that they are all watching over us, and try to cheer up.
“I’m back!” Amy announces, and I turn my head to her with a smile. She is wearing pink pyjamas with teddy bear patterns. Her quills are down, framing her face, likely because she left them to dry on their own.
“Do you want to take a shower too?” She asks with a soft tone. I shake my head to the sides, I want to avoid water as long as I can after almost drowning today. She looks at me symphatetically.
“I get it. I wouldn’t want to touch water if I was in your place, too.” She says, and I give her a thumbs up.
“I bet you’re hungry, let’s whip up something quick!” Amy excitedly says as she goes to the kitchen, and I follow suit.This’ll be the first time in ages that I’ll eat something, and I can feel my stomach rumble at the thought.
I take a seat on the chair, and Amy grabs buns from the counter. She takes out hot dogs, and grabs a can along with different sauces.
“Have you ever tasted chillidogs, Blue?” I shake my head, but even the sight of the ingredients is enough to make my mouth water. Amy starts boiling the hot dogs, and turns her head to me as we wait.
“I’m glad I had leftover chili, otherwise we’d have to wait longer.” Amy explains with a giggle. Then I notice that she is wearing an apron that has a red heart on the chest.I gesture to it, and give her a thumbs up, my only way to communicate until I relearn how to talk.
“You think it suits me? That’s so sweet of you!” Amy squeals, and I rub the back of my neck, averting my gaze.
“I’m curious about your name, how about you describe it to me?” She asks all of a sudden, but I’m not one to back down from a challenge, so I nod, and stand up.
I place my index finger to my chin,and hum, trying to find a way to explain my name.
Then, I figure it out, I bring my hand up to my ear, mimic hearing something.
“Hear? No that wouldn’t be it…” She says, and a gesture her to go on.
“Sound!” I smile, and make a so-so gesture,she hums,and checks the hot dogs before making another guess.When her attention is on me again, I try to imitate the sound of a boom.
“Boom… Sound… Hmm…Sonic boom?! Sonic!” She cries, and I clap my hands, glad that she got it right.
“Cool!” She compliments as she places the hot dogs on buns, and adds the chili, ketchup and mustard on top of them. The scent of the meal strokes my nose, and I sniff loudly, making Amy laugh.
She places the plates on the table, and we both sit on the chairs. I grab the chilidog like it’s something fragile, lifting it up from the plate right into my mouth gently. I take a bite, watching Amy observe my face on the corner of my eye while I chew. I can’t help the delighted hum escaping my mouth as the heavenly taste blesses my tounge, and Amy laughs.
“Eat as much as you want. There is more in where that came from!” Amy chirps with a laugh, bless her, I absolutely consider taking her up for the offer
It doesn’t take long for me to realize that the wishes weren’t automatically granted when I returned to Mobius.
It’s night time when it happens, for some reason I can’t sleep, I keep tossing and turning in Amy’s couch I crashed on for a week. There is a unease settling on my chest, heavy and unrelenting, and despite how many deep breaths I take in, the weight doesn’t lift.
Then I hear them.The voices, the desperate pleas for help.
Visions of small animals, trapped in some kind of a metalic cage flash in my mind. I hear their whimpers and cries, see the fear in their eyes.
And I understand that the only one who can help them out is me.I don’t even wait until the morning to set out on my journey. Before I leave, though, I try to write a note for Amy, she has done so much for me. I know how to write a couple of words, so my note ends up with just three words: ’I go. Thanks.’
I glance at the note, decide that Amy can read it, she is the one that taught me to write after all,she saw the way I write, I reason.
Then step outside, and close the door gently behind me. I spend hours running, and the sun is rising on the horizon when I manage to pinpoint the exact location of the distressed animals. It’s an island not very far off from the one I’m on,but it’s moving.
And it’s in the middle of an ocean, in water. I have neither a plane nor a boat to cross the sea, and I absolutely hate water.
Eh, I’ll manage.
I look at my feet, and trust that they’ll aid me in this mission to save lives. I grin, and take a few steps back. Then I run, like my life depends on it.
It definitely does.
Water touches my shoes, and even reaches my face. I stick my tounge out when salt carresses it. There is no way I’m trying to cross an ocean ever again.
It thankfully doesn’t take long for me to reach the island, where I’m sure more hardships await me.
Turns out the animals were trapped inside robots, which used them as some sort of batteries. Familiar much? Great way to rub salt on my wound. Poor things were so tired, that I had to carry them deep into forest after bashing in the ugly ‘faces’ of robots and saving them.
Not long after, I met the creator of the robots. The self claimed evil mastermind, Dr. Ivo Robotnik. His bald head is probably brighter than any star up there and resembles an egg, so we are going with Dr. Eggman.
We’re getting along very well for now, I’ll admit. He is lucky I can’t talk yet, so my fists and kicks do all the talking. Soon enough, our fights will involve phychological warfare, and I doubt he is ready for it.
While fighting Eggman, I learn that the man is after chaos emeralds, and I smirk. No one in this whole wide world knows more about them than I do. I can feel them calling to me, pleading for help. I find them one by one, and they grant me their powers. My body shines golden, and for a second I think I’m going to turn into a star again.The light, the heat right from my core, reminds me too much of the time when I was suspended in dark space, just over a week ago. With the other hedgehogs’ help, I win over Eggman, and send him flying off in the space.
After I manage to save all of the animals, I don’t get any more visions. So I decide to return to Amy’s home to visit her. It takes me a few hours to reach there,and I knock on her door. She doesn’t open, and I think that maybe she isn’t at home. I decide to visit the lake nearby, where everything first began. I suprisingly find her there, the tarot cards she showed me before are laid in front of her, and she is wiping away tears. I’m by her side in a blink, and I gently place my hand on her shoulder. She turns her head towards me,and her hands fall to her sides.
“Huh?” She says in the middle of her sobs, and I wink at her.
“Sonic!” She stands up, and throws herself on me, enveloping me in a tight hug. We fall down together, her still on top of me.
“You idiot! You were gone for five days! I was so worried!” She stands up, and helps me up to my feet.
“Where did you go, anyway? And what was that note?! You might as well not write anything!“ She continuates her scolding animatedly, her hands flailing around. I catch her hands before she can keep at it, and she stalls, her lips part.
“Amy.” I say, I occasionaly practiced saying her name,which marks the first word I relearned saying. Her eyes widen,and I slowly let go of her hands. I place my thumb on my chest, then give her a thumbs up. She giggles, and averts her gaze, then sits down on the ground. I take a seat near her, and see that she is looking down at her cards, and sniffing. I gently hold her chin, and turn her face towards me, and raise a brow.
“When you didn’t come back I… I thought I lost you too, Sonic!” Amy says, and I wipe away her tears, trying to smile. But it saddens me that I worried her like this.
“It’s stupid, I know, but my cards said I’ll meet you here.So I brought food and stayed here for five days!” She continuates, and I shake my head, it isn’t stupid to believe anything if it keeps you going, at least I think so.
“Thanks.” I manage to make out, but the word feels foreign when I say it. Amy understands me, though, and she smiles through her tears.
“There is nothing else I could do, anyway. It isn’t like I can catch up to you, you’re too fast!” She says, I smirk, and shake my head. There is nothing Amy can’t do if she puts her mind to it, I know that. She leapt in the lake to save me when I almost drowned. She cooks, cleans and looks after herself. She taught me to write in like three days.
It seems that I need to help Amy this time. I stand up, and start running. Amy doesn’t move, and balls her fists.
“What did I just tell you? Sonic!” Amy yells, stretching out the last syllable of my name. I giggle, and turn back to her, gesturing her to follow me. She falls silent, and starts running after me. I can already feel her huffing after a few minutes, so I slow down, trying to keep a pace she can confidentaly keep up with.
After a while, she gets used to it, and she even begins to close the distance between us. I turn to her, and start running backwards. I wink and give her a thumbs up, she giggles.Her muzzle is so flushed, and her eyes are shining with happiness. I consider just running like this, watching her as she finally starts to enjoy our run, but I almost trip on a rock. Lesson learned, I start running normally. I can hear her shoes hitting the ground, and approaching me more and more, before I know it, she leaps onto me.
“Caught you!” She says, I’m trapped between her arms she propels herself up with. I’m lying face down on the ground, and try to turn on my back. She gets it, and stands up with a sheepish apologise. I stand up, too, she is still giggling and trying to catch her breath.I huff with an amused smile, and rub my nose.I clap for her, and she curtsies with a laugh.
“Thank you, Sonic.” She softly says, and I pat on her shoulder.
After that, days go by pretty fast. Between going of on missions to save whoever needs it, I’m mostly with Amy. First it’s her teaching me to write and work through issues with my speech. Then it’s for her delicious chilidogs. Once I decided to just crash on a tree, then gave up and went home. The air was cold, it wasn’t comfy, and the stars stood too close to me that day, as if I was right beside them like in the past.
And most important of all, it wasn’t home.
So I returned right back to Amy’s place, even though it cost me a few sleepless hours, and I dragged myself to her couch.
She was there waiting for me, sitting half awake on the couch. I took a seat near her, and her head fell on my shoulder. She mumbled something, and my name, then fell right asleep.I got comfy, as well, her body pressed to my side provided much needed warmth that I didn’t even share the blanket on her legs.
As my fights with Eggman became more frequent, his robots became stronger. Then, one day, he chained the Little planet to a mountain near Neverlake.Amy tagged along when I went to beat him again, too, and Metal Sonic appeared, snatching her away. If everything didn’t work out, I’d truly regret taking Amy along with me.
But as always, I beat Egghead, and his sorry copy of a robot, leaving no room for regrets.
Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, I kept hearing that fox kit, and the echidna, wishing for company. I set out on a journey to find them. First was the fox, I saved him from his bullies, and he tagged along. His name is Miles, and I nicknamed him Tails. The kid is a genius, and he can keep up with me like it’s his second nature. I sometimes feel like these people were my wish, instead of the other way around, both Amy and Tails.
Then, I remember the echidna, and find him on Angel Island. His name is Knuckles, and his head is as hard as his punches most of the time, but he means well, and that’s enough for me.
My speech got better with time, too. Now Eggman doesn’t know peace in and out of the battle, and I make sure to say things that’ll haunt him at night. It’s what he gets for torturing the innocent.
Years pass, and I meet more and more friends. Some’d argue that we are strictly rivals, like Shadow and Jet, but I’m sure we at least have mutual trust and respect.At some point I realize it was Shadow who begged to be let out, and see that his wish was granted, too, even though I didn’t have something to do with it.
Everything changes with time, but Amy, Tails and Knuckles remain constants on my side. Amy kept running since the first time I helped her believe she could. Sometimes it’s to chase me, sometimes towards her own goals, she always runs. So do I.
It’s less about granting wishes, and more about the thrill now. I like the smiles on people’s faces after I save them. I like the sound of the birds chirping after I carry them to their homes. I don’t do what I do because no one’d, anymore. I do it because I want to. For years I faced so many enemies, and gained just as much, if not more friends. I came very close to death, several times. I’ve tried to live with no regrets, let go of the past before I’m forced to carry it along, allow it to slow me down.
There is only one thing that I can’t resolve, one thing that weights on my heart like no other.
It’s Amy’s wish.
She has wished to meet her true love.I know that it wasn’t immediately granted, just like others weren’t, but I have no idea how to make her wish come true. Playing matchmaker seems odd to me,and as her best friend, I feel a bit like I’d be too much of an influence to call it fate as she loves to do. And I can’t exactly go around and show her picture to strangers,and talk about her, just to see I can find someone willing to love her, that’d be very creepy.
That’s how I decide to talk to her about it. But I have no idea how I should begin.I obviously can’t tell her the whole truth, she wouldn’t believe my strange life-cycle anyways.
I ditch this whole fruitless planning process and rush to Amy’s home, I’m sure talking will come more naturally when she is with me.
The night is falling by the time I knock on her door, and Amy answers almost immediately.
“Oh, Sonic? What brought you here?” Her voice carries her surprise,and I smirk, placing my hands on my waist.
“What is it? Do I need a reason to visit you, Ames?” I tease her, and she giggles, rolling her eyes.
“Of course not. Come on in!” She opens the door wide,and the scent of cookies hit my nose along with the usual warmth of her home.
“I was thinking… Why don’t we sit outside? And you could also bring those cookies along?” I say, and she hums in consideration.
“Sounds nice! Wait in the living room until I’m ready, then!” She hurries inside with a jump to her step, and I take a seat on her couch. The framed pictures on the walls only increased with years, I note. Most of them are of us the core four, as some put it. She has one with Silver and Blaze, then with Shadow on one of the concerts they went to. One is with Cream and Vanilla from one of their tea parties. On another wall is placed a photo of just me and her, she is embracing me with a huge smile, and the frame is heart-shaped.
Oh.
My breath gets caught in my throat, and stand frozen for a split second.Surely the heart… doesn’t always mean something mushy and romantic.
Right?
“Sonic! I’m ready!” She says with a sing-song voice, interrupting my thought process before it even starts. I turn my head towards her, she is wearing a baby blue, frilly skirt and a pink top. In place of her usual boots she is wearing blue sneakers. There is a picnic basket in her hand, and I grab it, just to have someting to occupy myself instead of staring.
She looks very pretty today.
My mind blanks and I can barely gulp. She keeps catching my gaze with her emerald one, determined to make me more panicked then I already am.
“How do I look?”
“Fine… I mean… good! Yeah, very good!” I stumble through words like I have never before, and she giggles, very aware of the effect she has on me. Dare I say, she is enjoying it, too. She grabs my hand, and drags me out of the house.
“Where are we going?” She asks, and I rub on my nose while looking around. I really should have thought everything through before inviting her to outside.
“Seriously, Sonic, you don’t know where to go after inviting me outside?” She teases with a laugh, and I groan.
“I just… didn’t want to be cooped up inside with the nice weather we have today.” I say, looking up at the stars.
“You are right. The sky is very clear. Say, how about stargazing?” Amy says, and I nod with a thumbs up.
“Sounds good. Where?”
“Neverlake.” She doesn’t have to say twice,as I quickly carry her to the lake. She looks around, and spreads the picnic sheet on the best spot.Amy opens the picnic basket, and takes out the cookies, the triple chocolate, my favourite. She pats the space near her, and I sit down, my eyes locked on the stars.
“When I was ten, I used to come here to watch the stars everyday.” Amy begins, and I face her. She is looking at the stars, their shine reflected on her eyes. Starlight kisses her face, and I find myself envy it.
“Why here? You can see the stars from anywhere.”
“I looked at my cards, and they led me here.I was destined to meet my love, right in this lake. Then, I noticed a blue star.” She looks at me. Her gaze feels like she isn’t just holding mine, she is seeing something much, much deeper.Something she shouldn’t even know where to look for, but does anyway.
“It was the brightest star I’ve ever seen.Showing off like he… it owned the whole sky, and beyond.” I can only watch silently as all the threads unravel. I hold my breath, and she turns her head back to the sky.
“My cards told me my fate would begin here. The star twinkled like it listened. It was too good to be a coincidence, so I took it as a sign, and made a wish, everyday, until the anniversary of my mom’s passing.” Amy continuates, and I remember that day as well. How could I forget? Without her voice, the space grew quieter, and darker. And for the first time, I made a wish.
“Why did you stop?” I manage to find my voice, and she smiles sadly.
“I was having a terrible day already. The emptiness in my home resembled my mom the most, that day. On top of it all, everyone was mean. The kids refused to play with me. The adults made fun of my clothes, how mismatched they were. How my quills needed brushing. I couldn’t say I had no one to do it.” She takes in a deep breath, and jolts slightly when I place my arm over her shoulders and pull her close. It isn’t like me, I’ve never been a hugger.I know it, and she knows it better.
But this time, I keep her close. For all the times I didn’t. For the times I could cover a distance lightyears away, but refused to do so with just mere centimeters.
“Then… I came here. But the sight hurt. Here he was, that star, shining proudly in the sky. I was calling out, reaching, yelling, but he.. he didn’t care. He just listened and twinkled like he understood it… but did nothing. So I gave up.I wasn’t going to allow him to laugh at my wish anymore.”
“Hey, I’m sure he didn’t laugh.” I say, and Amy giggles wetly.
“I found out a bit later that he didn’t. When he fell down. I was a bit naive, then. I thought he was falling because I was angry at him, that I somehow killed him by not believing in him. So, I called out to him, for one last time. A silly attempt to save him.”
“Dear shooting star, I want to meet my true love.” The words fall out of my mouth before I can stop myself, and Amy starts sobbing.I take her in both of my arms, and she places her forehead on my chest, hiding in my embrace. I place my chin on top of her head, and rub circles on her back, like I do for Tails whenever thunderstorms hit.
“Sorry.” She mumbles into my chest, and I shush her. She breaks the embrace when she is calmer, and she wipes away her tears.
“You knew all along, huh? I thought you’d forget” She says, her voice still shaky.
“How could I? You are the reason I’m here.” I say, and her eyes widen.
“What do you mean?”
“That’s a story for another day. Now, I have a more important question.” She starts pouting, and I laugh heartily
“What is it?”
“I heard everyone’s wishes, and granted the most of them. Except yours. Why did you stop wishing?” I ask, and she gently grabs my hands.
“Because…You were my wish.“ My lips part, and she smiles, running her thumbs over my hands.
“I love you, Sonic.” I feel my muzzle heat up, and my heart beats faster than I can ever run. I’m sure my palms are so clammy against her fingers, but all I can focus on is how pretty her face is. Her eyes shine the way they do as she stargazes. My eyes find her lips, and she smiles.
“Well, I’m still your guiding star, and I’m feeling very generous today.If you make a wish, I may grant it very quickly.”
“Is that so?”
“Exactly.”
“Then, I wish you say you love me back.”
“I’m more of a actions speak louder than words kinda guy, though.”
“Oh? Then let actions speak,Mister star.”
I don’t have to be told twice, and I finally close the distance between us. Our breaths meet first, then our lips,and I feel I’m granting my own wish rather than hers