"That's what true love is. Always wanting the best for someone, even if that doesn't include you."

The wind was refreshing. Amy hadn't gone this fast in ages. She missed it. She also missed being in Sonic's arms, so the whole situation was a win in her eyes. She didn't know where they were going, but she was up for the adventure. Now she just needed to figure out how to tell Sonic where she had been and what she had been doing these past four years. She could open up to him yes, but Amy's biggest concern was how Sonic would react. She had never judged him for his actions or his decisions... would he do the same for her?

Sonic had sorely missed having Amy in his arms. Just the feel of her, the warmth coming off her skin, her scent... Sonic felt his face growing hot despite the wind in his face. He hadn't run with Amy in... forever it seemed. He was so happy that she was willing to open up to him about where she had been these last four years. But for her to need a private place to do so? That made Sonic extremely curious. Just what had his Amy been involved in?

Wait, did he just call her his Amy? Sonic slighty shook his head, but not enough that Amy would notice it. She stayed pressed to his chest, holding on to him. He would love to have Amy as his. She had practically called him hers all these years. In fact, the idea made his heart flutter. 'But only if she'll have me,' he thought to himself. She had respected his wishes all these years and now he would show her the same courtesy.

Sonic continued running under the night sky past the outskirts of the city and into the suburbs. From there he continued past the suburbs and out into the country. He took a left turn down a hidden path that lead into a forest. The moonlight weaved in and out of the trees, making the woods look like a peaceful dream. Amy subconsciously nuzzled closer to Sonic while taking in the state of their surroundings. It made Sonic smile and a warmth spread in his chest. The fact that she still had her old tendencies when it came to him gave him hope.

'Where are we going?' Amy thought to herself. She didn't remember any of this from the spots that she and Sonic had hung out before. This was way out of the normal. And then all of a sudden they were running through a clearing. The full moonlight was so brilliant, Amy could see the clearing as if it were the middle of the day. There was tall grass and many different kinds of wild flowers growing throughout. Amy looked forward and squinted her eyes against the wind. They were headed towards a very tall tree. And behind the tree was... a lake?

Sonic stopped near the base of the tree and set Amy down. She stood there stunned. The grass and wild flowers had thinned out near this point so that the little grass on the edge began to blend with the sand that led down to the water's edge of the lake. Amy looked at the tree; it was so massive that the branches were thick and leaves were sprouting. The roots were so large that some of them came above ground and could be sat on. The moon was full in the sky providing a white light which made the whole area feel like it was from a movie. The water from the lake quietly lapped onto the shore.

Amy turned around to face Sonic. Her face was one of wonderment and her jade eyes were huge. Sonic stood watching her looking at him. "Sonic," she breathed, "this place is absolutely breath taking. How... How did you ever find this place?"

Sonic had been in this valley many times and to him, yes it was pretty but no where near as breath taking as Amy looked right now. He smiled. "Well, about that Ames." He chuckled and raised a hand to itch the back of his head. A nervous gesture he really needed to break. "I found it when... when you left". He shifted his eyes downward and then looked back up at Amy.

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, what?" When she left? "What do you mean?" She furrowed her brow.

"Well,..." Sonic began. He walked towards Amy. "Remember the day you asked me to meet you at the park?"

Moonlight and Sonic mixed well together. He looked as handsome as he ever had to Amy. She could feel her face starting to warm as he approached her. "Yes. The day I told you that I was leaving."

"But you wouldn't say where you were going. Only that you were leaving. And I couldn't say anything to convice you otherwise." He looked down at the ground and slightly shook his head, a smile starting across his lips as he did. He started towards Amy and looked at her as he came up to her with that small smile still on his mouth. She had a guilty look on her face now. He stepped to his right which was her left, and grabbed her left hand as he did so, gentley pulling her along with him as he continued closer to the shore.

Amy's heart beat quickened when Sonic took her hand. She felt sparks shoot up her arm. How could she still be so attracted to Sonic after all this time? She had left that day, yes, and not said where she was going. But it had been for her. For her independece, for her health, and most importantly, for her heart. Yet, she still felt so comfortable around Sonic. Those years hadn't done anything to lessen her feelings for him, even if she had wanted them to. She turned to follow Sonic as he tugged on her hand.

"I know that you may not believe this," Sonic chuckled. He stopped walking in front of Amy and sat down on the ground in front of one of the huge tree roots, using it as a back rest. He pulled Amy down into his lap and circled his left arm around her waist to keep her there. Sonic could see her deep blush in the moonlight. He smiled. "Hell, I probably wouldn't if I was in your shoes, but," he paused and looked at Amy emitting an emotion she couldn't read. Emerald eyes met jade. "You broke me that day."

Amy's heart skipped a beat. Maybe two. She broke him? Her eyes searched his. She looked down and then looked back into his eyes. "Sonic, look I-"

"Ames," he cut her off. "It's okay. I needed it."

"You... needed... it?" Amy was in disbelief. What was going on here? She supposedly broke him and he was okay with it? Wasn't she the one that was supposed to be doing all the talking? Dare she hope...?

"Everything you said to me that day, you were absolutely right. I needed to hear it." Sonic looked up at the night sky. "I was being selfish, always counting on you being there, always thinking that your love for me would keep you around. And I was always taking you for granted, never showing you how I felt or treating you the way you should have been treated." He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. "You deserved your independence and you deserved not needing me around to define you." His eyes opened and he looked at Amy. "But, you were wrong about only one thing that day."

Where was all of this coming from? Amy's heart was beating wildly in her chest now. All these revelations that Sonic had was because she left. So her leaving actually did some good? Hell, he was actually agreeing with her? Does that mean he understood and wasn't mad at her? That he wasn't upset that she had been gone for the last four years? Would he be mad though when he knew where she had gone? Exactly when did he realize any of this? So he understood that he hadn't treated her right all those years ago? Amy's mind was all over the place.

"Wait," Amy removed her heels and shifted in Sonic's lap so that she straddled him. Her skirt rose up a little, but she didn't notice. She felt his arm losen from around her waist and fall to her hip, resting on the bone. Not even caring about the position she had just put herself in, Amy put her hands on top of Sonic's shoulders. She looked at him face to face and leaned closer. "I was wrong about what?" Her puzzled eyes searched his. What did he mean?

Sonic was doing his best not to get distracted at Amy's legs. She had moved to straddle him and her skirt had risen up, showing more of her thighs than before. His heart was beating wildy in his chest. Sonic was feeling nervous, scared, excited. This was it. He was finally going to tell Amy how he felt after all this time. It was now or never. With his free hand Sonic cupped the side of Amy's face and gentley brushed her cheekbone with his thumb. Sonic smiled a sincere smile at her that reached all the way to his bright eyes. "I love you, Amy Rose. I always have and I always will."

Amy's mouth dropped open in shock. Her eyes went wide. Different emotions were hitting her all at once. Her heart stopped, she had butterflies in her stomach, her face felt as hot as the sun. Her breath hitched. "Sonic, I.. you.. wow...umm" Amy rambled. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to do. The one thing she had wanted to hear all these years and it had finally been said. She was dumbfounded. Did this really just happen? In shock, she took her hands off of his shoulders and covered her face.

"Hey," Sonic murmured softly. He sat up straighter and grabbed Amy's wrists. He gentley tugged to pry Amy's hands from her face. "Hey, Ames," he said in the same soft tone. He could feel and see Amy's body softly convulsing. Was she alright? Sonic needed to know. He heard her breathe in a ragged breath. Was she... crying? Crying because now she knew he loved her and she didn't love him? Sonic pushed that thought from his mind. No, no it couldn't be that. She was straddling him, for pete's sake (and he didn't mind it one bit). She just had to be overwhelmed from his confession. This is what she had always wanted. Of course she would be crying. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his chest for a hug.

"It's alright Ames," he said. She continued to cry into her hands. "It's alright." He repeated and kissed the top of her head, holding her.

Sonic heard and felt Amy take a deep breath. "Sonic," she said in a small, cracked voice.

"I'm here."

Amy wiggled out of Sonic's embrace, wiped her eyes, and then put her hands once more on his shoulders and extended them so that she had some distance between her face and his. She looked into his emerald eyes. They were full of love and sencerity. He was being truthful. The happiness she felt was overwhelming. She took another deep breath. She was going to cry again, she could feel it. "I love you, too," she said as a fresh round of tears fell from her eyes.
Sonic smiled a very huge smile, teeth gleeming and eyes shining. She still loved him. Joy coursed through him. He grabbed Amy's tear streaked face in both his hands, pulled her to him and kissed her.

Amy's eyes went wide in shock. Was she dreaming? Or was this real life? After all the years that she had followed him around praying that he would one day return her feelings and now Sonic was kissing her! On the lips! She couldn't control her heartbeat or the tingling feeling running through her body. She felt giddy. This was actually happening.

Her lips were soft, and warm. Sonic stopped the kiss to look at Amy and saw the bewilderment on her face. He smiled at her before wrapping one arm around her waist and pulling her to closer to him while his other hand grabbed the back of her head and crushed her lips to his, his fingers entangled in her hair. Amy moaned at the motion and Sonic seized the opportunity. His tongue found hers and they danced. She tasted like strawberries, sweet and addicting. It was better than he had ever imagined.

Amy gave in to Sonic and joined in the exploration of each other's mouths. She had one hand in his quills and the other at his jawline, holding his face to hers. She was enjoying the feeling of him close to her, and his lips on hers. Amy, in her wildest dreams, had never thought it could be this good. She could feel herself becoming lost to him again, but she didn't care. Sonic loved her. That was all she had ever wanted and she had it now. All too soon, Sonic broke the kiss.

He rested his forehead against hers while they both gasped for air. "God, Ames, I've wanted to do that for so long. You have no idea." He kissed her again with force, like she was leaving and he would never see her again.

"Why didn't you?" Amy asked, holding his face in her hands. Her jade eyes looked into his eyes. "Sonic, you knew how I felt about you. Why didn't you? How long have you loved me?" She questioned him.

Sonic reached and tucked her hair behind her ear. "I've loved you for as long as you've loved me."

Amy gasped. "Are you ser-"

"But I couldn't tell you." Sonic cut her off. "Not with Eggman around. I couldn't have him use you as a way to get to me. I wouldn't allow it; I would never put you in danger like that." His emerald eyes clouded and something resembling determination emerged. His ears went back. "He couldn't know. I couldn' let him take you from me," Sonic whispered.

"Oh, Sonic..." Amy looked at him and saw something she never had before: Fear. Over her. Her heart swelled with love.

"I figured the only was to protect you was to act like I didn't care about you as anything but a friend. So that's what I did." He traced her lips with his finger. "It killed me everyday. And so I relied on you."

Amy watched him, listening intently and enjoying his touch. This was all news to her. She had never thought that Sonic had liked her in that way. If only she had known sooner... "Relied on me?" She repeated. Amy was intriqued.

"Relied on your love for me," Sonic explained. "I couldn't just tell you how I felt, not at that time. Eggman would have found out for sure. So I counted on your love for me to always keep you with me. To keep you coming back to me because I couldn't come to you." Amy watched his eyes fill with pain and her heart felt like it was being crushed.

"And then you told me you were leaving, and Amy I, I almost told you then, that I loved you. But I couldn't." His brow furrowed. "I couldn't use that as a crutch, as a guilt trip to keep you with me. I knew that you needed to grow. I knew that I relied too much on you and you needed to figure out life without me there to influence it, because I was using you. Even if you didn't realize it, I did, and I knew it was wrong. I didn't deserve you. And so, I let you go."

Fresh tears had started to fall from Amy's eyes. For Sonic to think that he didn't deserve her... it surprised her. She felt like her heart was breaking. He was a national hero. He could have anyone he wanted. He chose her and yet this is what he thought? "Sonic, of course you deserve me." Amy cupped one side of Sonic's face and brushed his cheekbone. He placed his hand over hers and leaned his head into her hand, closing his eyes. He looked very relaxed at her touch. "For you to do that for me tells me that you love me so much. You let me go so that I could do what I thought was best. You do deserve me."

"I was selfish though, Ames, so selfish when it came to you. Sonic opened his eyes and looked right into Amy's jade ones. "I still am. You don't understand how relieved I am that you still love me. I thought you leaving was a way for you to get over me and I thought I was too late. I thought you wouldn't want me anymore after all that I've put you through... having you chase me around and me treating you the way that I did." Sonic looked away and then back at her. "Ames, you are so positive and beautiful. After everything, how can you still love me and want to be with me? I'm just another man with too many cuts in his soul. I've seen too many battles and shed too much blood to have someone as strong and good as you be with me. No matter how bad I want it."

Amy wanted to slap some sense into him. Is this how he's felt? Is this another reason why he didn't tell her his feelings, aside from Eggman finding out? "Sonic, I am always there to support you, in whatever you do. It means a lot that you did the same for me. And I don't care how many battles you've been in or what you've had to do to keep everyone safe. For you to think we won't work because of that is just... ridiculous. You mean more to me than what you're giving yourself credit for. I'll always want you." Amy looked down and then looked at Sonic with embarrassement on her cheeks. "To be truthful, I, um, I actually left so that I would be in your league." Now the truth comes out.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "What do you mean, Amy?" His interest was piqued. So that she would be in his league? She was perfect, where was she going with this?

"I wanted to prove to you that I could be a good mate and keep up with you. I didn't know how you felt about me, so I wanted to prove myself to you in hopes that it would help you spark some interst in me. So when I said I was going to college, which was kinda true, it wasn't technically a college." Amy looked down again and started to mess with the hemline of her skirt. It was now or never, and Amy was going with now. Otherwise she didn't think she would be able to tell Sonic where she had went.

"What do you mean, 'technically a college'?" Sonic looked at her with quizzical eyes. This time it was Amy's ears that went back and she clasped her hands together. Sonic grabbed both of her wrists while her hands were still clutched together. He leaned in towards her. "Amy, where did you go" Sonic pressed.

Amy peered up at Sonic, clearly nervous.

Sonic sighed and smiled at her. "I'm not going to judge you, Amy. You never did that to me. Where did you go?"

"Well, I wanted to show you that I was someone who was on your level. I wanted to prove to you that I could be just as useful in a battle and not need saving all the time." Amy took a deep breath and continued to look at Sonic, uncertainty in her eyes. "I talked to Rouge about it a lot over the years when I was chasing after you." At the sound of her name, Sonic's facial expression changed to one of skepticism. Anything involving Rouge was a toss up. What ideas had she given Amy?

Amy felt Sonic's grip on her wrists grow a fraction tighter at the sounds of their friend's name. She lowered her voice. "And she suggested the G.U.N. Acadamy." Amy watched as Sonic's emerald eye's got wide. 'Here it comes,' she thought. She was prepared for the backlash.

"You enlisted at the G.U.N. Acadamy?" He asked in disbelief.

"Yes. When I told you I was leaving, that's where I went." She watched him, gauging his reaction. He looked thoughful.

"So you thought that by going through that kind of training, you would be on my level?"

"Or at least have you spark some sort of interst in me, yeah. I loved you, I mean, I still do. But I wanted you to love me, too. So I did what I thought would make you do that." Amy continued to watch him. He seemed to be processing this alright.

"Why didn't you want to tell me you were going there? Amy, I was worried about you the whole time." Sonic let go of her wrists and rested his hands on her thighs.

He had been worried? A warmth spread through her. It was such a great feeling to know that he cared so much for her, even if she hadn't know it until now. In spite of the warmth coursing through her, Amy frowned. "You were worried about me? Didn't you think I could handle whatever I was going to do?" she questioned him.

"It's not that I didn't think you couldn't handle it - believe me, I've seen you in some of our battles. You can definitely handle your own." He smiled, remembering. Then he looked back at Amy, his eyes serious. "But, of course I'm going to be worried as hell when you disappear for four years without a trace. And I couldn't go looking for you because you asked me not to, and as much as I hated it, I respected your wishes."

"I did ask you to not to. And I want to say thank you for that." Amy then looked at Sonic with a smirk and crossed her arms. "But, Sonic the Hedgehog," she started, "do you really think you would have let me leave if you knew I was going there?"

Sonic returned Amy's smirk with a toothy smile. "You got me there, Ames." And it was true. If he had known that's where she was heading, he would have done everthing in his power to have prevented it. "But I wish you would have visited or called me more. That one," he held up one finger, "One phone call I got in four years of you being gone just did not cut it. My mind was racing."

A guilty look mixed with something Sonic recognized as worry marred Amy's features. "Well, if I could have I would have..." Her voice trailed off.

"Amy." Sonic's voice became stern. "What don't you want to tell me?" If someone touched her or even looked at her the wrong way... Sonic tried to control his thoughts. Amy was his girl, even if she hadn't known it fully until now. The thought of her in some situation that made her uncomfortable without him there to protect her set anger coursing through him.

"Well," she started, "we are in a private place and I did say that I would tell you." She paused. This was it. She was about to tell Sonic everything that she had endured throughout her four year journey. She started fidgeting with her hands.

Sonic grabbed her hands in his and smiled an encouraging smile at Amy. "Ames, I've been missing you and worrying about you for the last four years." He entwined their fingers together on both hands. "I'm not here to judge you. You did what you thought was best. I'm hear to listen and I want to know. So, I'm all ears."

Amy looked down at their hands. She sighed and looked back at Sonic with a small smile. "Okay. Well, as you know, I've had feelings for you for such a long time but you never showed interest. I wanted you to like me and I believed the best way to do that was to show you that I was capable of standing my own in a battle. I wanted to show you that I didn't need saving and that I would be an asset. I talked to Rouge about it and since she was already a G.U.N. agent, she suggested the G.U.N. Acadamy. It seemed to be the best option for me to prove I was in your league." Amy looked up at the full moon in the sky.

"The thing about the acadamy though, is that the training programs are so long. Rouge didn't tell me that until after I had applied and been accepted. And it wasn't just you who I couldn't tell. It was everyone." Amy looked at Sonic. "Rouge was the only one who knew and she ended up visiting me as much as she could. She really helped me out when she was able to as well. The training was unlike anything I've ever been through before. The acadamy doesn't just teach you new skills, it actually changes you as a person." Amy looked down at their intertwined fingers." There's things that I have to do now not because I want to, but because its been ingrained into me."