Ch. 24: The Possibilities Are Never-Ending

FIFTEEN MONTHS LATER

***Sonic's Reflective POV***

I still think back to that night, that night where it was all over. The plot, the crazy politician, all of it.

Freedom. It's one hell of a concept. It's an idea that I've always held close to my heart. Ever since that night, I finally felt free. Free of him, knowing that he had what was coming to him. I was a free man once again. We were all free of him. There were no more missions where I'd have to get ripped away from my favorite people. I couldn't say that I could leave all the politics behind, no matter how much I've always wanted to fully leave it. I mean, when my mom becomes too old, it'll be me and Amy at the planetary helm keeping freedom in place. It's still crazy to think that that same freedom could've easily been lost had he succeeded.

The night that Titus was arrested, I went to the hospital and was treated for my three crude electroshock therapies as well as other physical ailments. I was just sore from all of it. I'm not going to lie, it was great to be having an adventure that included the planet's fate hanging in the balance again, but this one, as Rouge put it, hit too close to home.

Amy and the kids were treated more than I was. I'd been through worse… physically, anyway. Amy and the kids? Well, they were a different story. My (then) four favorite people needed some nourishment after all the "excitement". I had never seen Amy eat so much in her life. Not even when she was pregnant with Coby, Desi, and Mel did she eat so much in one sitting, at least to my knowledge.

Out of the adults, Maria was the one that we were all the most scared for, outside of my wife, personally speaking. She was two months pregnant at the time of the Titus Incident. She was captured, but not tortured as much as Knuckles, Emma, or my wife and kids for that matter. It was mainly because of her pregnancy, but the sheer shock of it all and the fight that ensued on the island took a toll on her.

We all waited eagerly and nervously as the doctors had run their tests to see if the baby was okay. I had never seen Shadow more scared in his entire life. His fear was equal to Maria's. I don't think Shadow could've gone through another life-shattering disappointment.

When the doctors came back, we heard his news.

The little one was safe. A sigh of relief ensued after that. The doctors explained that with everything that had happened, the unborn child should've died. She should have miscarried. But the reason for the unborn baby's unexpected healthiness was the fact that Maria during the fight on Prison Island had been using a Chaos Emerald throughout the scrape. The significance? When she used the powerful gem, Chaos Energy coursed through her entire body. Chaos Energy will strengthen you, assuming you're using its positive energy, which Maria was doing during the fight. What it also did was affect the fetus, protecting it and strengthening it, even though Maria was going through hell.

Mr. and Mrs. Ultimate Lifeform were overjoyed at the news, as one would expect. The doctors did tell them that Maria would need to come to the hospital regularly to see if everything was still okay. She was told to come in once a month and she never missed a single doctoral appointment.

Doctoral appointments. Before I elaborate on that, I should say this. The six adults (Shadow, Maria, Knux, Rouge, Amy, and yours truly) all had to go through physical treatments. Knux and Amy especially. We were all tired, sore, and genuinely beaten up after the Titus Incident. We also had to go through psychological testing. We had been through hell many times in the past, but it never got this personal. The psych treatments were made for all of us, and we were all alright within a few days.

I wish I could've said the same thing for the kids. All four of 'em had been through rigorous torture on the inside and out for a few days nonstop. They were all only six years old. Granted, Cream and Charmy Bee were also six when they hung around me saving the world a few times, but the difference was that I never intended on my kids to get put through those atrocities at any age. The beatings, the workouts, no breaks, no love; only hate and anger.

Understandably, my kids had nightmares for weeks after the events. They woke up screaming and crying, replaying the terrible events over and over again in their dreams. Rouge and Knuckles had the same problem with Emma. We took them in to get treatment from the shrinks to overcome their personal miseries. It was a crummy way to spend summer vacation, going through all that anguish on Prison Island and spending what seemed like days-on-end in mental hospitals. But if there was one thing that they all inherited from their parents, it was our strength and resolve. My three kids were already my steady rock from which I could rely on for support, but seeing them fight and overcome the nightmares and constant fear was incredible. To see them beat it was enough to make me cry at how they rose above it all. Granted, ever since they were cured, the nightmares came up still, but they came up about as often as a blue moon. Two-and-a-half months. That's how long it took for all of them to overcome their inner demons.

Those same two-and-a-half months were used well elsewhere, specifically in the legal department. During that time, our best lawyers and prosecutors began to slowly make their cases against Max and those involved. How big was this investigation? Our investigators were, well, investigating everyone that worked, or had worked for Titus during his presidency. The secret service, Dr. Eggman, and every single G.U.N. worker from the Commander to the night-shift janitors were all under investigation.

Not surprisingly, when the news reached everyone on the planet that Titus had done what he'd done, there was a public outcry for Titus' head. All of the countries in the United Federation quickly withdrew from the alliance as soon as they heard the news. Within twelve hours of Max's arrest, the United Federation was completely disbanded.

There were more charges that were brought up against Max than what I had originally said the night my friends and I took him down. They stacked up quickly, to say the least. Our lawyers and investigators seemingly worked around the clock to get every little fact correct about everything that pertained to Max Titus, and in two-and-a-half months, we were all ready to go ahead with sentencing.

The rulings took place during a one-week span. Day 1 was for all those innocent of any crime(s), Day 2 was for those getting as little as one day to twenty years in the slammer, Day 3 was for anyone that would be sentenced for more than twenty years, Day 4 was for the Commander, Day 5 was for Dr. Eggman, Day 6 was for those who'd be convicted of treason and their subsequent death-sentencing, and the final day was for Titus, and was coincidentally my thirtieth (30th) birthday.

Those seven days were hell in the most apt definition. You all know about it; there was no way you couldn't have. The media was there each and every day, never wavering coverage of the rulings for that whole godforsaken week. For those of you who don't know how it worked, our legal team had done all the heavy lifting, so it was all up to the Royal Court to give out the sentences and probationary dates, if applicable to the person accused.

As for who made up the Royal Court, at the time of the Titus Trials, as the media nicknamed this event, there were five members to the court. My mother, Queen Aleena I, was the leader/spokeswoman of the group because she that ruled over the planet. Other members included my sister, my brother, my wife, and yours truly. For the record, Amy was (and still is) only a member of the court because she was married to me. Common folk can't serve on the Court. Cobalt, Desiree, and Melanie would've been members of the group, but to be a member of the court, you'd have to be a direct blood relative or spouse of a current member of Royal Family as well as being at least eighteen years old, so my kids were out. I didn't want them to more of a part of this than they already had to be with their testimonies to bury Titus and company.

So for the first three days, we had given plenty of calls for no jail time, limited jail time, and life sentences. Like I stated before, everyone that worked or had worked for Titus during his presidency, the secret service, Dr. Eggman, and the every single G.U.N. employee, were all up for trial. They all weren't too happy that they had to go through with it, but mom did declare that the day after Titus' arrest that all those groups and people mentioned earlier in the paragraph needed to be questioned and put on trial. The only way that we would be able to get all those men and women judged "innocent" or "guilty" in our given time frame was to group them up and give out the verdicts and/or probation lengths at the same time. And it still took forever to do that, especially when jail times varied with different people getting different sentence lengths, parole eligibility periods, and probation lengths. So yeah, the first three days took an eternity. It was exhausting in the sense that it took a while, not in the case of doing a lot physical labor within a certain time-frame.

When we got to Day 4 and Day 5, we were (THANKFULLY) able to stay for shorter times because those days were set aside for specific men, the Commander and Dr. Eggman, respectively. When the day arrived for the Commander, there were very little charges against him, but many media members called for his resignation during the time because of all the allegations against G.U.N. and their roles in helping Titus with the whole fiasco. However, the Commander went on the record saying, "This organization is my responsibility. I will see this through to the end. I won't resign over something like this. I'll only end my time as Commander when I know that it's time, and this sure as hell is not it."

When trial day came for him, he was greeted to a mixture of cheers and boos. Mother said that she was proud of the Commander for coming to her about the Max, and told the media directly that whatever G.U.N. did on Titus' orders, the Commander did not conspire with the man in any way, shape, or form. He was left out of the conversation and his agency was used for the wrong reasons, so the Commander was declared innocent of all crimes charged against him.

Then came Eggman for Day 5. Oh, boy… Let's just say that when he came into the court room on that day, the crowd's reception of him was less than stellar. I think you can figure that out for yourselves if you didn't see it on the television set. He was charged for three cases of attempted murder, among other charges. However, because of his role in helping me and the gang defeat Max and get our kids to safety, he was, and this killed my mom to say, honored for his deeds and ruled innocent of all crimes because he was blackmailed by Titus to do so. It caused some controversy among the press corps for his innocence, but I went on the record to say that Eggman had changed for the better and was no longer the same maniacal quack that was obsessed with taking the over the planet (again). What was even more "controversial", in terms of the press, was that I was the one that said it; the one person who had beaten him time and time again and had at one point dethroned the man because he dethroned my mom in the first place. The icing on the cake was that I had my mom also rule that Eggman, for his actions, was to be put into a prison with less-strict regulations. He was, and so far, hasn't even tried to escape. But if I may go back to the media, they were calling me out on this when they found out that it was my call on Eggman and his prison relocation, despite the Queen giving the ruling. I will say this, and you members of the press corps who're reading this are welcome to argue, but I do not regret making that decision. You didn't go through the same situation that I did, so you wouldn't understand my view on it.

In the end, Egghead was happy to hear he was going to a prison with less security, and like I said a paragraph ago, he hasn't even tried to escape. The other big tidbit of good news that came to him was that Maria's unborn son was alright (yes, they found out through ultrasound testing that Maria and Shadow were going to have a boy), and that Maria promised to visit her cousin in jail more often. It went up from once a month to every other week (twelve times a year up to twenty-six for those of you keeping score at home).

And then came Day 6: the day specifically set for those who admitted or were found guilty of treason, and would therefore be sentenced to death. I never liked playing the role of executioner. None of us on the Court did, but laws were laws. There were a smaller number of people that were guilty of treason as opposed to every other group of people on trial. There were only 24 of them. The lowest group number prior to Day 6 was Day 3's 49 people. One of the 24 was Hex. As disappointed as I was in Hex for his role in helping the president, he was the only one of the group that pleaded guilty to treason. They were to be executed the next day via lethal injection after Titus' sentence.

Day 7. My 30th birthday. Titus' day in court. Those three fragmental sentences translate to "BEST BIRTHDAY EVER" if put together. For my special day, it was the final day of court sentencing and the day that this whole mess would be (legally) over for us. Since it was my birthday, the head of the Royal Court granted me the authority to deliver Titus' punishment. Oh, the fun I had with that one!

Titus came into the court room looking like less than half of the man he once was. The media paid a lot of attention to him. The more people that testified against him and as the evidence against him mounted, not unlike a week's worth of dirty laundry, the more you could see that all the life was getting taken out of him. He went from grey, but well-coiffed hair and a decent tan to being pale-skinned with thin, long white hair. He was asked to stand up so I could give him his due justice.

"Maximilian Joseph Titus?" I asked. "By the authority of Her Majesty, Queen Aleena I, I have been granted the right to issue the verdicts of the crimes you have been charged with. Do you understand?" He nodded. "Maximilian Joseph Titus, we, the Royal Court, find you guilty of all crimes charged against you." Cue the shutterbugs and a fever of question from the reporters in the courtroom. "Order!" I had a lot of fun using the gavel. Truth be told, I'd always wanted to do that, even if I hated playing judge. The crowd hushed and I turned back to the accused. "As I said, Maximilian Joseph Titus, we have found you guilty of all crimes charged against you. Among those charges is the crime of 'treason against the Crown'. On behalf of Her Majesty, Queen Aleena I, I hereby sentence you to death by lethal injection for tonight along with the men and women who have proclaimed their guilt or were found guilty of treason. Do you have anything that you would like to say?"

I wished that we didn't have to grant the guilty that last request. It often came with a lot of controversy and venom getting spat out as they were getting taken away. Titus was no exception. What he said you could probably find on the web, so I won't quote him here. It is as much that reason as well as the profane way he taunted the Royal Family, my friends, and me. The bailiffs had to come to him and drag him away to Death Row and the execution chambers. Another flurry of cameras went off as he was dragged out as well as after the doors had closed. The only thing I could think of at the moment was how he could have at least gone out like a man, but I realized that scum like him couldn't, could they?

He went straight down to Death Row where the 24 others were. The first 24 I didn't bother see. It was only him I wanted to see die. They went through the executions quickly. Before I knew it, it was time for the main villain.

They did like they did with the previous ones guilty of treason. They took him and strapped him down to his chair by his arms, hands, torso, legs, and feet. He struggled in return, but the blunt end of a Royal Guard's sword caught him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. That gave them the opportunity they needed to finish tying him down like a pet on a leash. I stood on the other end of a two-way mirror as it happened.

They prepped the needle and his face went paler when he saw it. They asked if he had any last words. He asked to see me. They head guard turned to me through the mirror and non-verbally asked, "What're you going to do?" He didn't see me answer, but I went into the execution room anyway.

We stared at each other for a moment until he broke the silence saying, "How's the family doing?" I reeled up my right arm and back-handed his face hard, following it with a forehand and a hard-hitting right cross. I caused the side of mouth to bleed. I grabbed him by his forehead and pinned it to the chair. I looked him square in the eyes and got right up in his face with a fierce scowl.

"You're lucky my wife isn't here. I guarantee that she'd pound your skull in with that hammer of hers." I let go of his skull. "Have fun in hell," I said as I exited, giving the motion for the guards to end it all.

I slammed the door shut and went back into the observation room and saw him struggle all the more as he tried so hard to get free. I had the audio from the adjacent room muted so I didn't have to hear his last profanities. They hit him in the forehead with a rifle butt, and that dazed him, giving them the opportunity to stick in the first of the lethal juices.

He stopped immediately when they pumped him with sodium thiopental (C11H17N2NaO2S). He looked at the needle and jerked back up, rendering him unconscious. Pancuronium (C35H60N2O4) was then administered to paralyze him and cause respiratory arrest. To end it all, an injection of potassium chloride (KCl) was put in to stop his black hole of a heart. The monitor that he was strapped to showed us that his vitals dropped. Within ten minutes, President Maximilian Joseph Titus was finally dead. Seeing his heart rate flat-line and having the doctor declare him dead put an ironic, funny feeling in my chest. It felt like a curse had finally been lifted from me and my friends. It was like I had been released from heavy shackles. I felt free again. It was the kind of free that I felt whenever I ran with the wind at my back and in wide-open spaces. I have never considered myself a sadistic person, but watching him die was glorious. You can call me out on that remark, but I had an axe to grind with the demon.

I've seen people I know die in front of me and in my arms. Jonathan, Cyrus, and Jaime I saw die while worked for G.U.N. I held Uncle Chuck's hand when his golden heart stopped pumping. Titus was the exception of them. The first four were my friends and my family. The last one could've been Mephiles for all I knew. I've lost sleep over Jonathan, Cyrus, Jaime, and especially Chuck, but to this day, I haven't lost a wink of sleep over Max's death. Not. One.

The day of his death, new legislation passed via my mother. First, mother decreed that an international alliance of the size, power, and magnitude of the former United Federation would never happen again as long as my family was on the throne. Secondly, with the United Federation dissolved, its main authority enforcers, G.U.N., were also disbanded. Prior to the disbanding, the Commander officially resigned and retired, being as how everything related to the organization and the trials were officially over with Titus' execution. At the age of 72, Commander Abraham Tower walked away as an honored man for his role in the Titus Incident.

As you would expect, given the magnitude of the Titus Incident, the aftermath from everything was absolutely insane, especially on a personal level. The media wanted interviews from all those affected or involved in the scandal, especially from the victims, my family in particular. The media literally camped out at all of our houses wanting some interview of some kind. My philosophy about them wanting more information was, "They know everything that has happened. So why do they still need to bother us about it?"

I took my family out to Adabat to try and get away from it all and have a nice tropical vacation. But low and behold, they sat there waiting for us, and what was supposed to be a week-long vacation turned into a three-day questioning session. It wasn't Amy and I that I was concerned for, when it came to the interviews, but rather Cobalt, Desiree, and Melanie for the reason of people bringing up that trauma of their imprisonment and torture when we had tried to put it bed once already.

Shadow and Maria tried to get some peace. Maria argued that because of her pregnancy, she needed to relax and not be interviewed, which would lead to unneeded stress on the baby. So what did the press do? They said, "To hell with her request!" and then badgered her and her husband with queries about the Titus Incident and the soon-to-be-born boy. Shadow didn't get a lot of nice publicity when he threatened to badly hurt the media if they didn't stop bothering them.

Knuckles, Rouge, and Emma were hit with questions too, even on a place as high up as Angel Island. From what Emma told me, her and her family tried to hide and ride it out in Rouge's underground cavern, but cabin fever took over, leading to Knuckles having a panic attack and nearly causing a cave-in.

Even Tails and Cream (who was also five-and-a-half months pregnant like Maria at the end of the trials), who weren't even a part of the Incident, were plagued by media and press.

The last straw was a few days after the Incident ended when Amy and I were having a romantic night on our seventh (7th) anniversary with it just being us in the house with kids staying at their Uncle Tails' place for the night while Amy and I needed to do something that was overdue in a dark room. But wouldn't you know it, the media ruined a romantic night and moment with wild camera flashing coming from outside the window. Thankfully, they didn't see all of us, but it came time where we had had enough of the ridiculousness. It was to the point where I had to accept that there wasn't any place on this world where we could hide from these guys. Even Amy, when she was younger, was never this obsessed for me (don't take that as a burn against my wife; even she will admit that). Then it hit me. There wasn't any place on this world that we could hide.

I gathered up all of us who'd been hounded by the press and told them that I had an idea for getting us out of their constant badgering of us. Shadow argued that there wasn't any place where we could hide and he knew that if it got any worse, "Lethal force would be used". Those were his actual words. So I told them my plan.

Prior to that meeting, I had used the Chaos Emeralds to communicate with a friend we hadn't seen since Tails' and Cream's wedding three years ago at that point in time. I was in talks with King Silver to try and take a needed vacation/getaway to the Sol Dimension. I told him of our situation, and how the lot of us needed to get away. It took weeks to finally get a plan down, mainly because I had the crappiest time finding time to hash out the details because Blaze was nowhere to be seen during the talks, and anytime she came up in conversation, Silver just said that I'd find out later why she wasn't available. However, her not talking to us wasn't fueled by any bad blood between her and any of us; we just had to wait and see her for ourselves.

To get back on track, all of us were packed up and ready to leave thanks to the use of the Chaos Emeralds to make the jump. We had tested out our respective dimensions' Emeralds to test the inter-dimensional transport system beforehand to see if the dimensional jump would be safe, even for the pregnant ladies, who were six-and-a-half months pregnant at the time. Thankfully, there were no problems. Before we had left, Tails had created transceivers that were made specifically to talk to others from the other dimension. So if we were in the Sol Dimension, we could still be in contact with our home dimension with the help of the gizmos. They were only created in the event that an emergency was happening and we need to leave for home A.S.A.P.

Mom, Manic, and Sonia had to stay home for obvious Royal Family reasons and were okay with us taking a vacation. Before we had left, mom had written into law that the media was forbidden to interview those affected in the Titus Incident about the Incident or be arrested and put in jail. Mom also went on to say that the reasoning behind it was that the Titus Incident was over; they (meaning 'we') wanted this to be behind us. Another huge part of it was because time and time again during the interviews/interrogations, we had asked several times for the media to leave us alone, and they would not do it. To be honest, I don't know we why didn't sign it into law earlier.

Anyways, back to the vacation. We had decided to take a one month vacation and it was established that we'd all be staying at Silver's and Blaze's castle. With a warm goodbye, we all left for the tropical paradise that was all around their castle.

We arrived safely arrived were greeted by my psychokinetic friend and were brought inside. In one of the bedrooms sat the queen herself, but who else she was with her was shocking to say the least. Silver explained why during our vacation talks Blaze was nowhere to be seen or heard.

Resting in a bed to Blaze's left rested a toddler that looked exactly like his father. He had the same goofy quill pattern as his old man, and when he woke up, we saw that he had his father's gold eyes (Blaze had gold eyes too, but hers were slightly more orange than her husband's, giving her amber-colored eyes). The only difference was that he had his mom's lavender-purple fur. The King went on to say that he had also inherited Blaze's pyrokinetic abilities (the power to control and manipulate fire). The Queen said they found out the hard way that he inherited his mom's powers when he accidentally set a curtain ablaze in the throne room. Silver further said that he was their firstborn and was a year-and-a-half old.

In Blaze's arms rested their second child, a daughter. Silver explained further that at the time that I was calling him, Blaze was very pregnant with the new princess, in labor, nursing the child, and then trying to work off some of the baby weight that came with pregnancy. A smaller Blaze, but silver-furred like her daddy, the two-week-old kitten woke up and showed us her beautiful amber-colored eyes, but quickly hid them when she cried. She became so upset that she inadvertently used her own psychokinesis on Knuckles, lifting him up suddenly and just as quickly dropping him… on his thick skull.

Yes, we laughed our hind-ends off when that happened.

The Sol Royalists invited all of us to go to our rooms and unpack except for two of us. The king and queen had asked Cream and I respectively to stay for a moment. When everyone was gone, Silver talked to me privately while Cream and Blaze caught up. Silver asked me if I would become his son's godfather. To be honest, I always thought that my first godson would be Tails' first son. However, I graciously accepted to be a godfather for the first time. Silver took his little man out of the bed and the little one walked to me and hugged my leg.

"What's his name?" I asked.

Silver replied, "Booker. Prince Booker Fontaine the Hedgehog."

"And your little girl?"

"Gladys. Princess Gladys Caroline the Cat." I was quick to assume that Cream was asked to stay because Blaze was going to ask the pregnant rabbit to be Gladys' godmother.

Over the next month, we had a great time on the beaches near the castle, fishing trips (Cobalt thought it was funny to push Dad off of the boat a few times), plenty of grilling out, and seemingly endless nights of stargazing. We visited Marine the Raccoon, toured the surrounding islands, Knuckles got buried in the sand by Emma, and I enjoyed the best seafood I'd ever tasted.

Blaze had taught me a nifty and cheap fish recipe. Take some pancake batter (the kind you can buy in a box), add in a can or two of beer and mix. Take some cleaned fish fillets, dip them in the beer batter, and then deep-fry them in hot oil for a few minutes. Voila! We had that meal every Friday night, and they called it "Friday Night Fish-fry". They served it a lemon wedge, coleslaw, rye bread, fries, and tartar sauce for the fish. I wrote it all down to make sure that Amy could make herself on a Friday night for us.

Eventually, our vacation came to an end. By the time came to head home, Blaze had worked off all of her baby weight, Cream and Maria were seven-and-a-half months pregnant and still very healthy, and we made plans to vacation here next year and visit every so often with the Sol Royalists. During the trip, Rouge and Amy made big announcements that I'll get into later, but I think you can guess what they were.

One month after we returned, Maria's water broke and was rushed to the hospital by Shadow. We were all there at the hospital with the Ultimate Lifeform who paced up and down the waiting room feverishly. There was a sense of uneasiness that went into this because of how the child survived in the first place with the whole Titus Incident and how the baby's earliness (by two weeks) could have led to complications with the child. Granted that was a long-shot, but it scared Shadow to death just thinking about it.

Hours passed until the doctor came through the doors and announced that everything went perfectly and that the young man was healthy. The whole room took a much-needed sigh of relief and we went in to check on Maria. Shadow broke into the happiest tears I've ever seen as he hugged his wife and his newborn son.

The young man certainly looked like his old man to a fault. He had the same quill formation as Shadow and had striping along his body in the exact same locations as him too. The little man had the white tuft of chest hair like his dad as well as his blood-red eyes, but had his mother's smile. As for fur color, it was pretty much a color palette swap from the newborn to his dad. While Shadow was black-furred with red striping and accents all over his body, the baby had the same gold fur as his mom but also had black striping and accents all over his body in the same spots that Shadow had his red stripes and accents.

Maria didn't want him to be called "Shadow, Jr.", so they agreed on Xavier, Xavier Abraham the Hedgehog, Abraham for the Commander, who was also present at the time of Xavier's birth. And just like with the prince of the Sol Dimension, Shadow asked me to become the godfather, which I accepted without question.

Two weeks later, Cream went in. The twins were coming out right on the due date. Cream was rushed in by yours truly because her water broke when my family and I were visiting the Prowers'. Soon, everyone gathered again for the next round of births. Tails went with his wife to help her through it all. In the waiting room, my girls played with little Xavier as the hours passed. The same doctor that told us that we could see Maria came back to us and said that we could come to see Cream, Tails, and the twins.

Tails had one in his arms while Cream nursed the second. The Prowers introduced us to the little ones, a small male fox and an equally small female rabbit. The one my best friend held was the baby boy. In terms of his body, he looked the same as his dad, but he only had one tail. He had his mom's cream and brown fur and chocolate brown eyes. Cream held the small girl bunny that had the same body type as her mother's but her dad's golden-yellow fur and blue eyes. Just as the son didn't have his dad's physical signature (the twin tails), she didn't have her mother's extremely large ears.

Tails made me the godfather of Miles Prower, Jr. (no middle name), thus making me a godfather of three boys all within a two-and-a-half-month span. To no one's surprise, Amy became a godmother for the first time, becoming the godmother of Vanilla Amelia the Rabbit. She was named after her grandmother because the older Vanilla had just officially beaten pancreatic cancer only days before the twins' births. And as for her middle name, well, I think you can guess where Cream got the name. We didn't think that she (the older Vanilla) would've been able to witness their births, even if she had survived her cancer, but somehow, someway, she got to be there for her little girl and was able to hold her two grandchildren. I remember taking a picture of that moment and putting it in a scrapbook I made shortly after that day that housed pictures of all my friends and their families throughout the years. That picture of Vanilla holding Miles, Jr. and the younger Vanilla is one of my personal favorites.

Remember a few paragraphs ago when I said that Rouge and Amy had made big announcements during our vacation in the Sol Dimension? Well, it was shocking to Knucklehead and me when our wives came out and said that they were pregnant again. My Amy was one month pregnant while Rouge was a month-and-a-half pregnant when they came out and said that midway through our vacation. I remember Knuckles taking it a lot better than I did, being as shocked as he could be, but at least he kept his composure.

I didn't.

When Amy first came out all those years ago on the day I asked her to marry me that she was two-and-a-half weeks pregnant at the time, I was standing up and fell backwards onto the floor with a loud THUD, and from what my friends told me, my face was frozen in shock.

Fast-forward to the second time I learned that Amy had a bun in the oven. I did the same exact thing. I fell over backwards from the shear shock of it all and landed with a THUD on my head. Here's the difference: when I tipped over the last time, I fell onto hardwood. The second time? Well, we were in Silver and Blaze's castle when I found out, and that time, I fell backward marble flooring. I hit my head so hard that it knocked me out and I woke up in a hospital room in one of the lower levels of the castle. The doctor diagnosed me with a mild concussion because of my hard fall. Amy and the rest of my friends gave me a hard time about it. Hell, they still do.

Amy told me that this time that there'd be only one child when the time would come. Still, I was now going to be a father of four kids. As for Coby, Desi, and Mel, the girls were excited that they'd be getting a younger sibling, already spit-balling names as if they already knew that they were going to have a younger sister. I asked them, "What if it's a boy?" They retorted that they wouldn't want a baby brother if it was anything like Coby. My oldest didn't take that remark too well and chased the girls around the room to try and get back at them. I remembered laughing and taking my wife's hand, kissing it as I looked up to her from my bed. She grabbed my face and kissed me after my gentlemanly act.

Two-and-a-half weeks before Amy's birthday, Rouge went in to have her and Knuckles' second child. Knux confided in me that he was hoping that this time they'd get an echidna son for the sake of having a male Master Emerald Guardian when Knuckles' time was up. I told him that he'd get what he'd get, and there was no way to change it.

Knucklehead got half of his wish. Rouge gave birth to an echidna, but she gave birth to another daughter. She had her mother's clean, white fur, but she looked like her dad with dreadlocks for hair and the crescent on her collarbone. It was red and in the same spot as her dad's own white chest crescent. They named her Pearl Sophia. Go freaking figure that Rouge's daughter was named after a precious and valuable birthstone, but the irony of it all was that Pearl's birthstone was an Emerald. Speaking of Emeralds, her older sister, Emerald Maria (take a wild guess where her middle name came from), was so excited to have a baby sister. Knuckles would just have to have the member of echidna Master Emerald Guardians be a girl, but I have a feeling that Pearl won't like having to be that person.

That just leaves my family.

Five days before Amy turned twenty-eight, her water broke in the middle of the night. I was in the middle of a dream with her and I involved when it happened (talk about having a wet dream). I woke up all the kids and we dashed to the hospital at 12:45 AM.

We arrived there and she was rushed in and went ahead of me while I called everyone. Were they pleased that I woke them up in the middle of the night? No. I distinctly remember Shadow threatening to kill me unless I had a damn good reason for waking him up. Oh, did I ever have a damn good reason.

Tails and company were the first to arrive on the scene early in the morning. The Prowers agreed to watch the kids as I went to help Amy. The kids weren't any trouble. The minute they sat down on the chairs in the waiting room, they all fell back to sleep.

I ran to find my wife and found her with a familiar face; Dr. Lupe Tigress, the same doctor who had helped us birth Amy and I''s first three kids. I swiftly made my way to my wife's side and held her hand through the whole process… ALL TWELVE-PLUS HOURS OF IT. Finally, at 1:17 PM, Amy was finished and we were handed our fourth child, our second son.

Much like his older brother and me, he had emerald green eyes. He had the same body type as me, but the only difference was his fur color. It was a deep bluish purple, better known as indigo. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep in his mother's arms. As he slept, I stole a kiss from my wife and our friends all came in to see the newest Mobian Prince.

When asked what his name was, we did almost the same thing that we did with Cobalt. Since Coby's fur color was cobalt blue, and our new son's was indigo, we decided on that. Prince Indigo Charles; Charles after his great-uncle and the great of uncle of mine that he never had the chance to meet. To end the day, we asked Knuckles to be the godfather this time around, to which he accepted.

As I look back on my life, I know that I can never go back and change it. Are there things I wish I could've done differently? Yes and no. As much damage as Titus did to all of us, I knew that it could've been avoided. Then again, if I hadn't started all of this by first putting in an application to work for G.U.N., I probably wouldn't have everything I have now. Am I saying that I am in some way thankful for Max?

HELL NO.

But if there was one thing that he did, it was bring us all together. I'll admit; I had a blast kicking some bad-guy butt at Prison Island, even if our lives were on the line. It wasn't the adventure that I wanted, but I shouldn't have been too surprised that something of that magnitude happened. Prior to Max, no foe had made me so vengeful and angry, not even Eggman did that. I could have easily lost my life, but more importantly, I could've easily lost my family. But thankfully, that wasn't, and still isn't the case. I have my family. All six of us are happy. Well… mostly.

Some of the current hostilities that the six of us have are regarding the move. With now a half-dozen hedgehogs in the family, the house we lived in was too small to host us all. So I got into contact with my mom shortly after we came back from vacation about building a new house. She agreed, but she stipulated that the new homestead had to be closer to Mobotropolis, i.e. my mom and siblings. We agreed, and a house was built by the end of autumn on the western outskirts of town. We've only been in the new place for a few days and the unpacking process is going on at a slow pace.

A few doors down from our new place were Mr. and Mrs. Prower. Even further down the street rested a second house for Rouge and Knuckles. They decided to build a second house to be closer to the rest of the old gang. However, Knuckles wouldn't be there 24/7; he still had guardian duties to tend to on Angel Island. And yes, even Shadow and Maria moved closer too. How Maria was able to swing Shadow to move, much less a move closer to me, is something I'll never know, but they moved into the neighborhood across the street from Mr. and Mrs. Echidna.

What did we do with the old house? Well, we couldn't just sell the thing. There were too many memories that happened within those walls and halls. Most of them were good, others… not so much. Amy came up with the grand idea for a business opportunity. My mom listened to her idea and they agreed. The large chunk of land surrounding the old home was all owned by the Royal Family because my family used to live there full-time. Their business venture is still under construction, but is mostly done.

What's happening with the old house is we're making into a lake-house. A man-made lake was created, a pier was added, and now other houses/cabins are still being built along the entire lake. Sir Charles Lake, as it's called, will have over forty lake-houses encompassing the modestly-sized body of water when fully completed, and Big the Cat was the first person to rent out a place there. It was our old house, and he'll be there with Froggy through the end of next week. It's not like we're always going to have it rented out; when Big is done, we plan on bringing the kids out there for a weekend out on the lake before school starts back up.

As I write this final chapter of my autobiography, it's that kind of day where you have to reflect on what's happened in your life. My wife is 28. The triplets are 7½ years old, Indigo is just over three months old, and I turned 31 a week-and-a-half ago. Eight years. That's how long we've been together. Okay, maybe it's been longer than that; it's more like twenty between Amy and me if you want to go back as far as Little Planet, but that's as long as we've known each other. But today begins our eighth (8th) year together with golden rings around our left ring fingers. It's funny how fast life can be sometimes, especially with someone like me.

I wouldn't trade this for anything, not even for a generously-topped chili dog. I have the life that most men would dream of. I have old friends that live down the street. We've been through it all. From freeing small critters from a fat doctor's mechs to defeating gods to saving aliens to even fixing the space-time continuum. We've had our bad days too. Almost losing your family will do that to you, but evildoers should know by now that when it comes to the Sonic Team, they'll never beat us. Even if we're not at the top of our game or if you're holding our loved ones hostage, they should know that they'll never be able to take us out.

Am I happy with my life? Like I even have to second-guess myself! Sure, there are things I wish I could've done better or not at all, but look at where it's taken me. Sure, I'm known for having fast legs and a faster mouth, but if there's one thing that cements my legacy, it's my friends and especially my family. My beautiful wife of eight years, my four angelic children, my mom, my sister, and my brother. I'm a lucky guy. Get past my speed, royal title, and achievements, and you get the real Sonic the Hedgehog. My legacy isn't my princely title or the accolades I've tallied up over the years, but rather my family. Adventures come and go, but they'll always be here when I need them. They are my foundation, my inspiration, my ace-in-the-hole when things get tough. Will I still have great-big adventures where innocent lives hang in the balance? At this point, it's practically a formality. But my biggest adventure is and will always be my family. I can't tell you how happy I am to have the chance to watch my children grow and to have Amy by my side at all times.

What's crazier is that when I was at my peak of my "daredeviling" when I was anywhere from 11-16 years old, I thought I'd never want anything like what I have now. I was a living-in-the-moment thrill-seeker after all. I was just out looking for trouble and running away with the victories and my friends joining in on the fun. I can't tell you how many times I reflect on how I became the hero that everyone sees me as, but also the man that my wife sleeps with every night.

I've got it made. I can't stress that enough, and I'm thankful that I've been given these gifts. I get to support my kids in their recreational sports, be the father and a better father-figure than my Uncle Chuck, which might as well be impossible to do given that he set the bar high. I get to take runs with them, play football with Coby, I get to be annoyed by how loud my daughters play their pop music at 10:00 at night, I get to calm down Indigo when he cries in the middle of the night for wanting his mom and/or dad, and I get to embarrass my kids as good parents should because they embarrass me right back to get even. And last, but certainly not least, every morning I get to wake up with the most beautiful woman in the world. I get to wake up to an alarm clock that seems to ring earlier and earlier as I get older, but then I get to hear her say, "Good morning," every morning to calm me down with a kiss on the cheek and then on the lips to which I kiss back. I get to enjoy her cooking that could win any kind of cook-off hands down, I get to be snappy with her, fight with her, and make-up with her when either of us did something stupid. I get to have her sneak in a nap on my chest on some days, and I get to play with our kids and support them with her. And above all, every night before we fall asleep, I tell her, "I love you," to which she replied with, "I love you too." We'll kiss for a second or an hour and we'll fall asleep as I put my left arm around her body as she wears a purple nightgown and I spoon her, even kissing her neck or her back just before we're about to fall asleep with my nose deep within her strawberry-scented quills.

As I write this, I'm in my office. It's the middle of the afternoon in late summer. I look out a window to my right and see the most important people in my life. My oldest son, Cobalt has a football tucked underneath his right arm and is running around, waiting for me to finish up my last chapter so he and I can throw the ol' pigskin around before tonight. In the garden are my daughters, Desiree and Melanie, who are arguing over a tomato that Mel picked too early. Desi is barking at her sister, saying that it was too green to be picked, whereas Mel is arguing that because it's part red, it will ripen to become red soon enough. Sorry, Mel, darling, but your sister's right. That thing's still 60% green, at the minimum. And finally, my youngest son, Indigo, is asleep in my loving wife's arms with a pacifier in his mouth as my wife is reading a book as the summer sun shines down on them, making my wife look more like the angel-in-white that she already is.

The kids will be babysat tonight by Knuckles and Rouge. They're bringing over their girls and will be babysitting six kids in total. Six kids for two adults? Well, the two babies will be fast asleep (or at least they should be), and the girls will be playing in either Desiree's or Melanie's room later. Scratch that, If Emma's going to be over, and if my oldest son is in the house, then she'll probably just chase him down, pin him down, and force him to marry her.

A cute, little pink-furred girl with a crush on a fast, blue hedgehog that's saved her a few times from harm? Now where have I heard that before?

The reason that Rouge and company are coming over is because I'm treating the wife to a night out for our 8th anniversary. There'll be fine dining at a Spagonian restaurant that both Cream and my sister, Sonia, have highly recommended, and a night at a dance club (although on a weekend, I have a good feeling that it'll be absolutely crammed, so I have a back-up plan set up). To go along with it, I had Tails and the Royal Jeweler (yes, we even have a Royal Jeweler), help me out on what I hope is an adequate anniversary present. Mr. and Mrs. Echidna will be here soon enough. I must part ways with you, but only for a moment.

Life's an adventure, people. Those who know who I am and what I've done might say that my many instances of saving the world from total annihilation are my best adventures, one of my trademarks, if you will. They're only partially right. Sure, those adventures were fine and dandy, but that was the past. I've always been one for living in the now, unlike that time I went back in time to old places from old adventures. I am always living in the moment. If I'm out saving the world, that's great and all, but I'd rather be working on living my greatest adventure. And what is that? My greatest adventure is the one I'm living now.

It's being a good man, an honorable man, the greatest best friend you could ask for, a noble and upright prince with great moral values, a defender of peace and all things good and merciful, a role model, a great leader, a daredevil at heart, but above all, it's being a loving respectable patriarch. A dad who'll be there for his kids for something as defending them from a school bully, being there for dance recitals, or just something simple like when they need a warm, loving hug for when my kids are hurting or if they just ask for one. It's being a great husband who'll respect his wife and honor her. Treasure her. Love her. Kiss her. BE THERE FOR HER. Raise a family with her. Be the hero that saved her, but be the man she always wanted.

That's my adventure. It's waiting outside in my backyard on a sunny and warm summer day as the sun is beginning to set. They are my rock, my strength, my inspiration, my home, and my everything. It's crazy how easily I could have lost them. It's not a thought I relish, but it makes me want to love them and protect them all the more.

Life is crazy people. I went from a cocky teenage daredevil to a father who has learned a lot more about respect. Respect for my friends, a beautiful wife, and my four kids. I have respect for what I have and what could have happened. It just goes to show you, if a guy like yours truly can have it all like I do, then the possibilities are never-ending.

***Sonic's first-hand POV***

I hit the "save" button on my computer. I would look at it later for the sake of cleaning up my grammar. Once that was done, I'd email it to my editor and publisher. I never thought that I'd write anything, much less my autobiography, but hey, a guy can change. It was going to hit shelves at the end of next month, so time was of the essence.

DING DONG!

It was almost scary how well I timed Knuckles', Rouge's, Emma's, and Pearl's arrival as I wrote it in the Great Book of Sonic. I put my laptop to sleep, got out of my chair, and did a full-body stretch to loosen those joints and heard a nice CRACK come from my spine.

"Ohhhhh, that's the stuff," I thought out loud.

I went down the hall, slid down the staircase's rails, and skidded to a stop as I opened the door.

"Well, it's about time you got here!" I said with purposeful annoyance. "I ordered that sausage, onion, and chili dog pizza with extra cheese forty minutes ago!"

"Very funny," said Rouge dryly. "Can you take Pearl for moment, Blue?"

"Sure," I said as I carefully took her from her mom's arms. She looked up at me confused with her mother's teal eyes. "Hey Pearl! How're you doing?" She cooed playfully. "Knuckles put on mommy's dresses again?! Ha! What a weirdo!"

"I HEARD THAT!"

"I can't make fun of you in front of your own kid, Knucklehead?" I teased. "Just remember, Big Red that-."

"The people that give you most grief in life will always be your friends. Yeah, yeah, I've heard it before from you," he said as he entered and set the baby bag on the rug in the middle of our living room. "Can I have my little 'echidnette' back?"

"Aw, but she seems to be enjoying her Uncle Sonic's company!" I took a sniff or two. "On second thought…"

"Not laughin' now, are you, blue-butt?"

"Hey! It's my house, so only I have the right to heckle around here!"

"UNCLE SONIC!" I turned back to the door and running at me was little Emma with her hair fashioned into a ponytail.

"Hey Em!" I said as I scooped her up and hugged her. "What? I don't get a hug back?"

"Sorry, Uncle Sonic, I only save my hugs for my husband."

"Well, your 'husband' is in the back with a football right now," I whispered into her ear.

"Can you let me down so I can see him?!"

"Sure, Emma," I said as I set her down gently as she booked it for the back door as her dad followed slowly with a cleaned-up Pearl.

I heard the SLAM of a door and a, "OH, COBY!"

"DAD! WHY'D YOU TELL EMMA WHERE I WAS?!"

"C'MERE, LOVER BOY!"

Coby screamed in terror and I could hear the pitter-patter of his and hers feet running around out back.

"That sound familiar to you, Big Blue?" asked Rouge as she put a hand on my shoulder.

I chuckled. "Like father, like son," I replied.

"I've tried telling her to stop it."

"Nah, let her have her fun. Besides, Coby needs to be punished for cranking out his freaking rock music right as Amy and I were about to fall asleep last night."

"You're an evil dad."

"Well, I can do that. It's one of the many perks of being a father. Thanks for coming, Rouge."

"No problem. So you two aren't going to have any reporters waltz in on your 'fun' tonight, are you?" she teased, knowing full well what happened last year.

"Firstly, they came in after our 'fun'. And secondly, not a chance in heaven or hell."

"So… what have you gotten her for your anniversary? You're not going to stiff her are you?"

"What kind of a husband do you think I am?!" I zipped away and handed her a box. "You think she'll like it?" She opened it up and devilishly smirked. "No, you can't have the rocks."

"I wasn't going to take them!"

"Oh, please! I've heard more truth come out of a politician's mouth," I retorted as I plucked the box from her hands and hid it in my quills. The back door crashed open as a scared cobalt blue hedgehog screamed by with a pink bat flying closely, trying to keep up. "Cobalt! Slow it down!"

"Emerald! Land your butt now!" The kids came back into the living room and Coby stopped in his tracks, but Emma, still flying, crashed into him. The sudden stop and crash caused her to be directly on top of him while facing each other.

"Kiss me, you fool!" Emma said overly-dramatically. "Hey!" Rouge walked over and plucked her daughter up by her wings.

"Curb your enthusiasm, sport," she said.

"But mom! I just wanted to give him a kiss!"

"No thanks!" I lightly smacked the back of my son's head. "Hey!"

"Be nice to our guests…," I warned while glaring at him.

"Sorry."

"I know you are, buddy." I got down to his level and hugged him, whispering in his ear, "You'll learn to enjoy a woman's love one day."

"No, I will not!" he replied rather loudly.

The rest of the gang came in with my daughters still arguing over the tomato and it caused Indigo to start crying.

"Sonic, can you try and calm him down? I need to talk to the girls for a moment," Amy said with venom in her voice as she glared at Desiree and Melanie.

"Sure, babe," I replied to Amy. She handed me the little man and I held him close as he cried while my wife pulled aside my daughters. "Shh shh shh. It's alright, Indy. Daddy's here." He slowed a little bit and I began to rock him. "That's right, Indy. I'm here. Daddy's right here." He stopped and I held him up at full extension for him to look down on me. "The circle of life-!" Knuckles stopped me right there as I reenacted Disney when he elbowed my kidney. "Hey! Not when I'm with child!"

"Sorry, but if they wanted you to sing in a movie, they'd ask." Hey… I'd be a damn good actor. I already know how to sing, so I'd be the full package! Maybe my autobiography will be such a success that I can star in it's corresponding movie with Coby playing a younger me of course as the film encompasses my whole life!

"Well, they would have the best talent," I arrogantly returned. Then Indy began emitting a nasty smell. "Oh, crap."

Knux took a big whiff, but why he took a big whiff of what's inside the full diaper is something that I'll never know. "You got that right."

"Amy? Honey? Wait, where is she?" My ears perked up when I heard a shower running amid the conversations in the living room. I was more surprised as to how quickly she talked to the girls and then hopped in the shower. Ames must have kept the conversation short, sweet, and to the point. "I just hope she doesn't hog up all the hot water. I need to shower before we go too... especially if I'm cleaning up Indy."

She wasn't in there long (thankfully). As she headed to her room with a towel on her head and another around her (great) body, she asked Rouge to come upstairs to help her get ready for our dinner date. I had finished changing my son (YUCK!) and was in and out of the shower before too long.

I had set my present on the bathroom counter prior to getting all wet and grabbed it when I went out, wrapping it in a pink and red paper with a white ribbon. Yes, I wrapped a present in the bathroom. I realize that it's not the most ideal spot in the house to do it. Don't judge me.

As I waited for her, I cracked the door to my room and asked for my outfit for the night. Amy told Rouge where it was in the closet and gave me the covered hangar. I moved back down to the bathroom and deodorized myself and applied a strong, but not overly potent cologne.

I unzipped the cover and began to slip on my suit for the night. It had pitch black pants with a corresponding jacket, a white undershirt, a long and slim black tie with a silver pin. I took off my ring and rubbed it all over with towel, giving it a golden shine. Years ago, I had "Always and forever" inscribed on the inside of the wedding band. It added to the promise of being loyal to her and only her, even more than the ring stood for.

With a dollop of gel that I put into my royal blue quills, I was good to go, giving myself a thumbs up in the mirror and clicking my tongue. I slipped my present into my jacket pocket and walked into the living room where my daughters were playing with Indy. Knuckles was still with Pearl, both napping on the couch. And then there was Coby, who was uncomfortable to say the least, as Emma was hugging him, not letting go of him despite Coby's asking/protesting/begging/pleading.

"Ahem," I said. Mel and Desi looked up at me. Emma did so too, giving Coby the chance to squirm away. Knuckles drowsily snorted and awoke, causing Pearl to whimper. "How do I look?" I asked confidently.

"Daddy!" said Mel. "You look so handsome!"

"You think mom's gonna like it?"

"She'd be crazy not to like it!" said Desi.

"Thanks, girls. What about you, Coby?"

"I think you look like a waiter at a restaurant." Everyone burst out laughing. Come to think of it, he was right.

"No respect for the old man," I said as I shook my head. I licked my thumb and made a line in the air, the signal for chalking one up for my first son. The score was Coby – 1, Sonic – well… less than that.

"You ready yet, Ames?" I asked loudly for the wives to hear.

"Gimme another minute!"

"So it'll be another hour. Right."

"I HEARD THAT!" Fact of life: the wife will always hear you when you make a smart comment about her.

Before long, the door upstairs had swung open. Rouge came down first and gestured her arms like those showgirls on The Price is Right when a new car is the potential prize.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Princess Amelia!"

OH, WOW.

She walked down gracefully, one foot in front of the other with shiny, silver-colored high heels. Her dress perfectly matched them, or rather the other way around. It hugged her every curve to a fault. It had a break where you could see one of her shapely legs, stopping mid-thigh. It was crazy how she still looked like the girl that fateful night at Knuckles' and Rouge reception almost a decade ago. The average man would have considered her hot stuff, but judging by her perfect body alone, that same man would never be able to guess that she's had four, count 'em one, two, three, four children all by the age of twenty-eight. And her face? Angelic as always. The subtle blush, the black mascara, the ruby red lipstick; they all made her even more gorgeous than she already was. It was capped off with a silver-plated necklace that Cream had given her for her birthday earlier in the year and her quills were tied up in the back to accentuate her very showy appearance.

Damn, I'm a lucky man.

Something came out that was rather unexpected… a wolf-whistle (I was half-expecting the werehog to appropriately burst out at a moment's notice and start howling like a banshee). She giggled lightly at it and bashfully said, "Oh, please. I'm not that good-looking…"

As I was about to rebuke her, Desi beat me to the punch. "ARE YOU KIDDING, MOM?! You look so pretty!"

"You know she's right, babe," I said. "Kids are some of the most honest people on the planet."

"Speak for yourself," Knux said under his breath, prompting Rouge to slap him in the back of the skull like I had to do earlier with Cobalt. "Ow!"

"Quiet," Rouge subtly warned as she gritted her teeth.

"Are you ready to go, Sonic?" asked Amy.

"Well, our table won't be ready for another…" I quickly looked at the clock at the other end of the room, "Thirty to forty minutes, so we have time. Besides, I have to give you your anniversary present."

She smiled warmly. "You got me a present?"

"Yeah." I dug into my pocket, but there wasn't anything there. WHERE WAS IT? Oh, wait… who in my house loves jewels? I shouldn't have showed her beforehand. "Rouge? Give it back."

"Shoot," she said. As she pouted, she dug into her purse and pulled out the box. She then tossed it to me.

"I have to remember to watch my pockets around you."

"Sorry, old habits die hard." I rolled my eyes and turned back to Amy.

"Anyway… Amy?" I opened the box. Her reaction was priceless. She sported a genuinely surprised look, not unlike the look that she gave me the day I proposed to her. She grabbed the box and held it up to a light.

"Sonic… honey… it's… it's… it's beautiful!"

"I thought you'd like it. There's a story behind it. This watch was given to my grandma, on my mother's side, by my grandpa for their twenty-fifth (25th) anniversary; their silver anniversary. I found it when I was rummaging through one of the castle's storage rooms. It needed some TLC, given that it hadn't worked in decades. I took it to the Royal Jeweler and he was able to take the twelve small diamonds that represent the twelve numbers on a clock and clean them up. He said that because it was such an old watch, he wouldn't be able to fix it, so I took it to Tails where he worked his magic. It took him a month, but he cleaned the gears, face, hands, and the pure silver band, and he also replaced the old, cracked glass with a new piece of quartz as well as fashioning a new battery. I took it to the jeweler, who reset the diamonds and polished it off."

"But I couldn't! It's a priceless, family heirloom!" she said with a sad look.

"True, but that's what makes it perfect for you. You're priceless and family."

She smiled nervously, yet warmly. "Sonic, thank you."

"There's also one thing left. Look at the back of it."

She took it out of its box and looked closely. She read the inscription silently, but when she was finished, she turned back to me and shed a tear. I was quickly there to wipe it away, protecting her makeup from running.

"'To the Rose I cherish with all my heart. Happy anniversary'." I said aloud, letting everyone know what was inscribed.

"Happy anniversary, Sonic."

"You too, Amy." I plucked the small gift from hand and slid it onto her thin wrist. With the sunset's rays coming into the house through the window, it shined like the diamond on her ring.

"Are we ready to go now?" Amy asked.

"Yeah."

We bade the kids "goodbye" with a warning not to make the babies their little playthings, and wishing Knux and Rouge the best of luck. Amy drove us to our dinner across town. I could see why Sonia and Cream recommended the place. I had a double helping of Chicken Parmesan, while Amy had a simple spaghetti and meatball plate with a side of crispy, buttery garlic bread. We toasted to us with a bottle of fine wine. That was special too. The spirit we drank from was the same kind of wine we had on our wedding day eight years ago, just a newer bottle, but still perfectly aged.

We left for the dance club, and, as I had expected, the place was packed. How packed? Well, no one was getting in without having to wait for an hour at the minimum, even if you were a Prince and Princess. Amy was saddened by this, but I told her that I expected this and brought a backup plan. We would just need to drive to it.

I drove her out to a grassy hill outside of town, and parked it on the side of the road. Before getting out, I rolled all the windows down and took down the convertible's top. It has been years since I was last here.

"We have arrived," I said in a sing-songy voice.

We got out of the car and Amy looked around. "Why are we out here? Better yet, where are we?"

"Well, it's quite the sight to see when it's daytime."

"Everything usually is," she replied dryly.

"Anyway, you can probably make out enough of the luscious, green grass, yes?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, the green grass, the lake in the background, the odd and colorful tiki-totem-poles, the random loop-de-loops in the distance, and the odd rocks that have a dark brown- and light brown-checker-board pattern…"

"You still haven't answered me, Sonic."

I slowly walked around the car and put my arm around her shoulder. "Amy, this… this place is called Green Hill. This place… this is where it all began."

She cocked an eyebrow and replied, "Where what began?"

"This was where Sonic the Hero was born."

"No, your mom told me that you, Manic, and Sonia were all born at the same hospital that our kids were born in."

"Prince Sonic, yes, but not the hero."

"What's the difference?"

"The difference is that this place, Green Hill, was the first time I encountered Eggman, or as he was known back then, Dr. Robotnik. This place was where I began my first adventure, and people learned my name, not just as a prince, but as a protector of the innocent. Shortly after, I continued my crusade with my siblings and eventually took down his global empire, only to have him come back and try again and again. Sure, physically I was born in the hospital with a royal birth certificate, but it was only here when I began my life as the hero that everyone knows."

She raised her eyebrows at my little story. "This place? But still, why are we here?"

"You know how nostalgic I get when a day like our anniversary comes up on the calendar. I thought that the 'biggest fan of Sonic the Hedgehog' would like to see a piece of his history."

"Fair enough."

"To expand on why I brought you out here, I planned ahead in case the dance club was full, as I said before, so I decided to drive us out to a place where no one'll find us. Besides, it's our anniversary and we've been with the kids a lot lately; I thought we deserved a night just to ourselves."

She smiled and kissed me on the cheek. "Yeah, you're right."

"It's also perfect that the full moon is shining down on you. Hell, it seems like whenever we need a perfect night, we get it."

"Sonikku, every night I get to spend with you is a perfect night."

"The feeling's mutual, babe," I said as I returned the kiss on the cheek. "Wait right here." I walked back to the car and turned it on, putting a CD in the player and waited a few moments. In the meantime, I took my wife by the hand. "I know you're not too happy that we couldn't dance at that other place, so I made a backup plan. A night of just you and me dancing in nature with a bright moon illuminating our grassy dance-floor."

The music began, and her eyes lit up after the first few bars. Nostalgia never looked better on her. "This… This…"

"Yeah, the same song we danced to on our wedding night eight years ago today." I took off my shoes and socks and set them off to the side and I quickly slipped off her silver shoes, leaving us barefooted on the cool, dewy grass. I offered my hand and looked into her joyful-teared eyes. "Amy, may I have this dance?"

"YES!"

She accepted my hand and I slid both of mine around her waist as she put her around my neck, pulling us close as her head rested against mine. We began to slowly dance in place, letting the wet ground moisten our feet and get between our toes. I kissed her on the forehead and stared directly at her bright, beautiful jade green eyes. I began to sing with the music, starting out with a sweeping string section. We didn't have it or my brother and sister to play live for us, but we made do.

"Lying here with you

Listening to the rain

Smiling just to see the smile upon your face

These are the moments I thank God that I'm alive

These are the moments I'll remember all my life

I found all I've waited for

And I could not ask for more

"Looking in your eyes

Seeing all I need

Everything you are is everything to me

These are the moments

I know heaven must exist

These are the moments I know all I need is this

I have all I've waited for

And I could not ask for more

"I could not ask for more than this time together

I could not ask for more than this time with you

Every prayer has been answered

Every dream I have's come true

And right here in this moment is right where I'm meant to be

Here with you here with me

"These are the moments I thank God that I'm alive

These are the moments I'll remember all my life

I've got all I've waited for

And I could not ask for more

"I could not ask for more than this time together

I could not ask for more than this time with you

Every prayer has been answered

Every dream I have's come true

And right here in this moment is right where I'm meant to be

Here with you here with me

"I could not ask for more than the love you give me 'cause it's all I've waited for

And I could not ask for more

I could not ask for more"

Not once did I break eye contact. She never did either, looking up to my emerald greens. As we danced and the more I sang, the more tears she shed. Sure, her makeup began to run and she'd claim that her look was ruined, but I didn't care. She was still the most wonderful and beautiful woman I'd ever know. She buried her face into my chest to try and stop herself, but it didn't work.

"You have no idea how happy you've made me!" she said amid the tears.

"Oh, I think I can guess," I smugly replied.

"So what's next? Are you going to whip out that Andy Griggs piece next?" I laughed at her nostalgic reference, referring to the song I sang to her as she sat down after we shared our first dance as husband and wife.

"No, I think this is enough."

"And that's where you're wrong." She got a better grip on my neck and pulled me in. I accepted the gesture, gripping onto her waist even more to return the favor. We shared a kiss that was salty in flavor from her tears, Spagonian from the taste from our meals, but it was sweet like honey, like fruit, like strawberries. To deepen it, I slid my oral organ in, to which she accepted. Even a few minutes after the song had finished, we stood there; our bodies pressed up against each other as our hands went elsewhere. Hers were around my head and upper back, where mine were in the same position on hers.

I fell backwards slowly, taking her with me. She yelped at my action and stopped as we fell onto the soft, wet grass as she was on top of me. We chuckled and went right back at it. The passion I had exerted before returned tenfold as I began to kiss her harder, sucking her neck to make her moan pleasurably.

"You…," she said as she trailed off as I nibbled at her neck. "I love you!"

"I love you too, Amy."

I rolled over, getting on top of her. My hands now went up and down her body, caressing her shapely leg, stoking her fire even more than before. She clung tighter to my neck to try and one-up me, and she was doing her best to keep up.

It got faster and faster; the passion levels went through the roof. The woman I'd always love unconditionally; the one I've saved countless times; the one who's saved me countless times in return; the mother of my children; the only one who could get me, the hero of Mobius, at her mercy; the only one I'd want to sleep with and kiss relentlessly; and the only one I'd want to be my wife and mother of my four kids.

We broke it off to catch our breath, which had become laborious, given the sweat that showed through or clothes. She still rested on the grass and she still had her arms around me as she was in mine. She looked back to me with her wondrous eyes. I looked down to view them, also catching her face basking in the moonlight.

With a kiss on my cheek, she said, "I wish we could stay here forever."

"Well, we'll have to go back to the house soon and see if the house's still standing."

"Alright then. Let's head-."

I cut her off when she started to get back up and hugged her tightly. "I think Knucklehead and Rouge can handle themselves for a few more minutes.

She smiled. "Yeah. Besides… it is our night, isn't it?"

"And I'll be damned if it isn't," I said as I briefly kissed her again. She chuckled mid-kiss. Of course, since giggling is highly contagious, I had to laugh too. Before long, it was both of laughing at nothing in the moonlit countryside.

We finally stopped and she nestled into my chest. I kissed the top of her head quickly and bowed my head onto hers. As we enjoyed each other's company, one song in particular popped into my head. A song about our commitment throughout the years. I was never a fervent Shania Twain fan, but this song seemed perfect. I began to hum the first few bars, loud enough for Amy to hear and spark her curiosity.

"What's that you're humming?"

"Oh, just a tune that fits us."

"And what might that be?" I restarted my humming as my eyes were closed, concentrating on the lyrics. It was only when I opened my eyes that I started my serenading.

"Looks like we made it

Look how far we've come, my baby…"

THE END

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

It is finished. Holy crap. Twenty-four chapters of nothing-but-Sonic the Hedgehog. Its final chapter was named after my favorite Sonic video game theme song. It ended with an Edwin McCain song and Sonic singing Shania Twain. And I wouldn't have it any other way. What took five months to write and formally edit is now 100% complete. I had my doubts whether this story would actually work, much less get finished, but I'm so glad to be proven wrong! Seriously, I mean it. Now that all is said and done, I still have a few more house-keeping things to tend to first.

Firstly, I just want to thank you readers for thinking that my material is worth your time. As a writer there's nothing more gratifying than to know that some people will willingly look at your material and read it all, from the very beginning all the way to the end. I can't thank you men and women enough for deeming my story as something worth your time.

Secondly, there are a few references I put into this chapter and some statistics that I want to address. This chapter was the longest one. Not counting the author's note, this chapter was 13,961 words. The next-longest chapter was chapter 11, which had 10,480 words. As a total, this story had a grand total of 147,191 words, not counting any of the author's notes/descriptions. A usual novel usually has 40,000 words. This had more than three times that. I'm not bragging, but I am putting it into perspective. Overall, the story, when using a 12-point Cambria font, made for 205 pages on a garden-variety word document if the margins around the words were 1" all the way around. The chapters combined made up 1229.7 KB (1.2297 megabytes) on my computer. Not bad for a fan-fiction, eh?

More on references, Silver and Blaze's children are named after 2 of my favorite video games series. Booker Fontaine refers to Booker DeWitt from BioShock Infinite and Fontaine refers to Frank Fontaine from the original BioShock game. I'm not normally a fan of first-person shooters, but the stories those two games tell are second-to-none. Then there's the daughter. Caroline Gladys refers to the Portal games. Gladys sounds like GLADoS, and GLADoS' former human name was Caroline. If you've played Portal 2, then you should get that. I whole-heartedly recommend that you look at both video game series. There's a lot of replay-ability in those franchises. Knuckles' and Rouge's daughters' first names are pretty much clichés when fan-kids of this shipping come up. Go figure that they'd name them after precious jewels. Emma's middle name (obviously) comes from Maria Robotnik, while Pearl is not. The name Sophia just came to me. I think that it's a very cute name. Xavier Abraham. I already said why Abraham is one of the names in the chapter, but I got Xavier from the X-Men, as in Charles Xavier AKA Professor X. Tails' and Cream's kids aren't exactly creative either, and I believe speak for themselves. As for the SonAmy kids, well, the story explained them already, so I won't repeat it. Getting away from the kids, there are one or two items that are personal pastimes of mine. If you live in Wisconsin, Friday Night Fish-fries are a cult classic as well as the all the things I said in the story that go along with the seafood. It's about as Wisconsin as you could get (save for owning a chessehead) and I recommend you try it if you haven't already. The recipe is in the story.

Finally, the future. Now I don't plan on this story being the only story I publish. Coming this December, I will be coming out with another SonAmy story, but it'll be more SonAmy-oriented than Affairs of State was. It'll have Sonic and company singing Christmas songs, the Archie characters, and will be less dark than Affairs of State was. It's also a lot shorter. Truth be told, "Blue Christmas", the name of my next story, has already been written. However, it needs some serious editing to be done first before I even think about publishing it. That's what I'll be doing, as far as story-writing, for November. It should be ready in time for December, so keep a weathered eye out for it when it arrives.

There are other projects that I'm debating on writing. One is a Sonic Underground story with some of the Archie characters, there's a SonAmy mermaid story, as well as a few one-shots that come to mind. But the biggest project that I'm just about to start writing is a series of Sonic stories that would be stylized like a comic-book superhero movie. It's a series of 4 stories, and the headcannons are all set as well as the characters. It also includes an origin new origin story for Sonic, starting when he's 25 years old. There would be SonAmy elements, though it would not be as pronounced as other headcannons I have, each story would pit Sonic versus a super-villain of sorts, and would be very dark. Darker than Affairs of State was. It's not so dark where it matches up with comic books like Sin City, but it's very dark for Sonic's standards. It's also inspired by a Sonic fan-fiction named "Street Speed". The writer is ThePenVsTheSword. Look him up on deviantArt, you won't be disappointed in his work. The only reason that I haven't started it is because one of the characters I want to include is somebody else's fan-character. I would have to get a Tumblr page first, though, and would have to ask for that artist's permission to use her character. If I cannot, then I do have a backup plan on the chance that she would say "no". Like I said, the storylines are set to go, but I just need to make sure that I have all my bases covered first before I do something incredibly stupid. Now I'm not saying that I'll be able to finish my story because I don't want to make a promise and then not honor it. I will try my hardest to get it written though, if you are interested.

Finally, I want you to let me know if you enjoyed the story. This wasn't your usual Sonamy story, I realize; I feel like this story was so big and ridiculous that it could've been its own movie. You can tell me what I can do to get better and stuff like that. If you do want to give me feedback on the story, then please be honest and professional about it. Don't say stuff like, "I F*CKING HATED IT. WHAT A PIECE OF SH*T." I can take criticism, but please make it as honest, constructive, and professional as possible. Besides, I'm a human being. I have feelings. Don't hesitate to tell me what you think of it, even if you happen to be reading this months or even years after its release.

So until next time, thank you so much for reading Affairs of State. As always, all the characters (save for Max Titus, Hector "Hex" Wilson, and my fan-kids) are the property of SEGA, and the music used is the property of their respective owners. Thank you again for reading.