Disclaimer

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Sonic the Hedgehog, Amy Rose and all other related characters copyrighted by Sega.

Sarah Arella and all other related fan-characters copyrighted by Tylec Asroc.

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FALLEN ANGEL

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Written by Tylec Asroc

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.---Anais Nin

If you want to lift yourself up, Lift up someone else.---Booker T. Washington

Silence.

Moments ago there had been chaos; raw, uncontained, absolute and perfect chaos. Now, there was nothing. Only the shattered city remained, giving testimony to the awful event.

The broken buildings rested in a deep stillness, water lapping upon their mangled bricks and girders. Black smoke slinked away from the downed mess of the Egg Carrier 2. The ancient bell, torn from its perch atop city hall, swung gently in the wind, its hollow ringing washing over the dead metropolis like the trumpet at judgment day.

Silence.

Slabs of torn highway were wedged into the watery streets like broken stepping-stones. Two figures stood upon one of the cracked roads, facing each other. Tiny chao were gathered around their feet.

One of the two was a young girl with soft orange quills, dressed in the cloth of an ancient tribe. Her head was bowed in meditation. She was an echidna - once a proud race of warriors, now a memory all but forgotten through the ravages of time.

The other was a creature not of this world - a being manifested in water; molded into the shape of an armored humanoid. Had it been of solid flesh, tears of sorrow would have poured from its green almond eyes.

The creature fell, or rather; it melted down onto its knees, shaking with guilt, quivering with shame. Curled up in a penitent form, it pushed away the chao that tried to comfort it; he was not worthy of their love. Not after what he had done.

The young princess raised her head. Very slowly, in the calm manner of the aged, she stepped towards the creature. Her presence made him shrink into a cowering puddle, he was so ashamed.

She kneeled and reached a hand out to touch the formless pool of sorrow. It shivered at her touch, like a criminal before the hangman. In a peaceful voice, she whispered to the creature. What she spoke was never known, but her words were more powerful than any physical force and more soothing than any remedy known to man.

Slowly, hesitantly, the creature rose to his earthly shape again and regarded the echidna for some time. Placing his palms together, the creature bowed in reverence to the little girl. But his gratitude extended far beyond what this humble gesture could convey. It was beyond what he could ever present. She had set him free.

Silence.

Chaos and Tikal began to rise, freed from the hold of gravity, freed from the bonds of this mortal plane. The chao fluttered their tiny wings and followed upwards.

As they ascended, the ancient guardian offered a watery hand to the echidna princess. She took the liquefied hand and held it tight in an embrace of friendship. She smiled. For centuries there had been no rest for either of their souls: Chaos, trapped in anger and hatred and herself, bound by a penance to calm his raging spirit. Now, the two were finally at peace and no force held them, save their friendship.

Silence.

Higher and higher they soared. The clouds scattered at the approaching pair and the sun poured out once again. Light caught their forms and bathed them in a dazzling, white radiance.

The chao stopped now, unable to go further. They watched in amazement as the light enveloped their guardian and their friend, purifying the two and transforming their shapes until it seemed that there were no longer two figures in the heavens, but only one radiating being, joined together in the bond of friendship.

Slowly, silently, the figure dissolved into the sunlight, never to be seen again.

Amy Rose let her breath out, slowly. 'Wow…'

It had been beautiful. That was all she could think of to describe the heartwarming scene, beautiful. To think that such a vision had come out of such chaos and destruction… amazing. Absently, her hand stretched out at her side, hoping that someone might hold it just as Chaos and Tikal had held each other.

"Sonic…" she murmured, still looking up into the sky, "Wasn't it beautiful?"

There was no answer.

Amy tore herself from the sky, looked to her left, where she swore the blue hedgehog had been standing.

The loud swoosh of jet engines broke the moment. She turned around to face the noise, and there was Sonic, watching as well.

Hovering above the ruined skyscrapers, Dr. Robotnik stared down from his flying pod; the ship was slightly scorched from Chaos' blast. Amy watched Sonic, who watched the doctor's angry face look down on him. Sonic wore an expression so calm, yet so powerful that it gave her goose bumps just watching. So intense… so focused… Amy tried to remember if Sonic had ever looked at her with that kind of meaning.

Sonic and Dr. Robotnik looked at each other for a long, thoughtful time. Both of them knew what had to be done.

Robotnik turned his pod around, blasted the engines into full thrust. Sonic followed, leaping from the concrete to another slab not far away.

Amy made a futile grab for her hero. "Sonic, wait!" she bellowed after him. But once again she had been too late.

Once more, Sonic the Hedgehog was off and running… always running…

She watched him leave, watched him jump from building to building, chasing his enemy in their endless cat and mouse.

'Please, come back,' she pleaded in her mind. Amy reached her hand out toward the disappearing figure, longing for his touch. 'Please, Sonic, please… '

Her prayers were shattered by a noisy cry. "Yeah, all right! GO GET 'EM SONIC!"

Angered and irritated, Amy snapped towards the one who had upset her dreams. Tails was jumping up and down and cheering like a lunatic. She'd had about enough of the little fox coming between her and Sonic.

"Just… shut up!" she screeched in her shrill voice. Tails stopped his stupid cheering.

"Shut up, you… you… " she hunted for an insult, "… you jerk!"

Tails looked up at her stupidly, (she still had a few inches over him, thank goodness) miffed at the remark. "Jeez, what's your problem, Amy?"

She wanted to yell at him some more, but a tear caught her throat. "He… he… " she stuttered weakly.

'He's gone,' she thought to herself. '… Again.' Amy took a big breath to hold in her tears. She wouldn't cry in front of Tails.

The fox suddenly clued in to Amy's despair and awed sarcastically.

"Awww, poor Amy…" he cooed theatrically. "Her boooyfriend's gone." His face stretched wide with a nasty smirk.

"Oh, he's gone!" he cried, as if he were performing Hamlet. "Whatever shall I do? Oh boo hoo!" His soliloquy quickly dissolved into maniacal laughter. The fox fell on his back, wriggling at his ingenious mockery.

"Shut up," Amy muttered feebly, her tears barely suppressed. Tails got to spend all the time he wanted with Sonic…

"Shut uuup!" Tails sneered between laughs, pinching his nose to imitate Amy's high voice. "Oh Sonic…" he swooned, "Wasn't it beeeautiful Sonic. Sonic… oh Sonic!"

While the fox continued to laugh at her, Amy folded herself down on the crumbling concrete. 'I'm not going to cry,' she told herself, although her long, jerky breaths hinted otherwise. Her hands played with the film of dust and pebbles to keep her mind off Tails, her rival for Sonic's attention.

Something blue caught her eye and she lifted her head hopefully. No, of course it wasn't him, but it was something equally amazing. She reached out her hand and carefully picked up the faded gem.

The chaos emeralds had been totally drained by Chaos, their endless energy swallowed by the beast, but colour was coming back to this one. Though only a weak, baby blue at the moment, Amy could almost see it ripening with energy and filling with rich indigo.

Now, if she remembered correctly, this was the one birdie had been wearing in his necklace. Was this the same lifeless stone that had crashed by her feet, the one she had brought to Sonic? Oh, it didn't matter; it was so pretty.

There seemed to be a tiny pulse of heat, like a heartbeat, radiating from the gem. For a moment, Amy forgot about Tails. She was so entranced by the gem, she even forgot about Sonic. She held it close to her face, watching it glow.

A thick hand snapped around her wrist. Amy shrieked.

Under it's rough, woven glove, the hand seemed to swell with muscles; long spikes jutted out from the knuckles. Quivering, Amy traced the wiry, but well-built red arm up to a tough body and up to a scowling face wrapped in red dreadlocks.

Amy had heard Tails use his name before. What was it? Nucks… Nuckie… She glanced back at the deformed paw with its claw… Knuckles! That was his name.

Still squeezing the hand that held the chaos emerald, Knuckles took his other paw and scooped the gem away from Amy. Though terrified, a squeak escaped her throat.

"Hey!"

His nasty stare gave Amy the chills. "The emeralds belong with me," he growled. His face was fixed into a permanent scowl.

Amy kept flashing between his awful face and the deformed paw clutching her wrist. She didn't know which one was worse. "I found it," she peeped up timidly.

One eye seemed to arch up for a second at her defiance, but Knuckles quickly washed off the surprise; returned to ice.

"Are you brain-dead?" He jeered. "The chaos emeralds aren't just some pretty jewels to play with. Their power destroyed this city," he said with a sweep of his hand. "Their power nearly killed my…"

He stopped. For a moment, his face seemed to melt into painful regret. Then once again, the echidna froze into a silent fury.

"I have to protect the emeralds," Knuckles said sternly. He bent down to meet her gaze and squeezed a little harder. Underneath his makeshift glove, Amy wasn't sure she could feel a proper set of fingers.

"Any more objections?" he snarled.

Amy shook no and Knuckles tossed her arm aside and left. Shaking with fear, Amy rubbed her wrist to soothe the pain. A tear or two had been coaxed out by the ordeal. She could still hear Tails, lost in his laughter, oblivious to the scene.

Knuckles walked a few steps down the bridge of rubble, where a plastic grocery bag lay, perhaps blown there by the rush of water and fighting. Though in pain, Amy's watery eyes followed the red stranger with a strange rush of curiosity.

Using utmost caution, the echidna placed the faded emerald into the bag and tied the handles together in a knot. Amy could hear the clinking of six other emeralds as he worked.

The echidna picked up the bag in his strange paws, swung it in the air a few times to test its strength and once satisfied, he slung the plastic sack around his shoulder. Not once did he look back, to offer an apology.

Amy turned away, back to her hurting wrist. She noticed that her gold bracelet had been dented out of shape. What a jerk! Was he really the same species as Tikal? He was just as bad as Eggman. She thought back to how the doctor had snatched up birdie on the Egg Carrier, greedily grabbing the emerald. She shuddered at the memory of that awful man.

A weird crunching noise resonated from behind her; still a little curious, though upset, Amy glanced over her shoulder at the noise. She was shocked to find the red bully climbing up one of the tattered skyscrapers, using his spiky fists to make handholds

The resonant sound of laughter abruptly died. "Oh no… " she heard Tails mutter. "Amy!" he called, and she automatically turned at her name.

The fox was clearly distraught over some unknown trouble. "Amy," he panicked, his gaze darting around the bridge. "Knuckles didn't take the emeralds, did he??"

Amy wiped away the remnants of her tears and shrugged indifferently. "Yeah."

Tails dropped his jaw in horror. "Well why didn't you stop him!" he roared with all his pre-adolescent fury.

"Well what was I supposed to do?" she asked cluelessly. Surely he'd seen those fists

Tails slapped his forehead and cringed. "Never mind," he mumbled angrily. "I gotta go." And he trotted off after Knuckles.

A smile sneaked its way onto Amy's teary face, pleased to see the fox troubled. "Bye Miles!" she called sweetly.

Her rival paused a second to give her a loud raspberry, and then continued his jog.

Flustered, Amy yelled back at him. "I hope I never see you again, Miles Prower!"

Tails didn't stop to look back. "Go play with your birdie friends, Amy," he jeered. Pushing off the ground, the young fox whirled his two namesakes after the climbing Knuckles.

Amy gave him one last glance, flitting about the echidna like fly, and then turned away, upset. She could still hear his puttering tails.

"Knuckles wait! I gotta tell you about my new plane, Tornado 2… the emeralds… "

She wanted to get as far as possible from that jerk, Tails. She'd tried over and over again to be nice to him, but all that fox ever wanted to do was stick his pointy nose into some stupid airplane.

She sighed. "That would have been a good comeback…" she brooded as she stomped away. Amy glanced back quickly, but the fox was already out of earshot. Why didn't she think of these things soon… "Oh!"

Amy jerked to a halt, her path being blocked by a most unusual wall of shaggy, purple fur. She teetered and fell back on her hands.

The big, purple bulk peered his tiny head down at Amy. "Hello," he said in a dull and dopey voice.

"Err, um… hi…" Amy stuttered, her eyes cautiously scanning the strange stranger. Fishing pole, purple fur, floppy clown ears and a bulk to rival Eggman's. What a weirdo. Not to mention he reeked of fish. Amy sat up on her knees, preparing to move away.

The cat smiled in a good-natured way. His huge, yellow eyes, somehow fitting into that tiny skull shone at her like a car's empty headlights.

"You haven't seen Froggy, have you?" the cat inquired.

Amy looked at him like he had just told her he could fly by flapping his ears. "What?" she asked blankly. "What's a Froggy?"

"Kurribit," came her reply, which proceeded to hop into her lap.

Amy screamed at the fat, slimy frog sitting on her skirt. She flew to her feet and the frog skillfully leapt away.

"There you are," the cat smiled. "Come here little buddy, I was getting worried."

The frog let out another happy croak and jumped into the cat's ample arms. 'How disgusting,' Amy thought, as she frantically wiped the frog slime off her dress.

The cat continued to nuzzle his friend affectionately. "You getting hungry, little buddy?" The frog gurgled and shook its head vigorously. "Then let's go home, Froggy. We'll have a big supper tonight."

He turned one last time to look at Amy with his empty headlights. "Well, bye now."

Still scrubbing her dress, Amy looked up and scowled. She didn't want anything to do with a weirdo that kept a slimy frog as a friend.

Totally clued out to Amy's hostility, the cat smiled back and waddled to the edge of the concrete bridge. Still clutching his amphibian friend, the cat stood up on the railing and jumped.

Amy screamed again and shielded herself from the explosion of water that shot up into the air. The miniature tidal wave swept over Amy, leaving her drenched to the bone.

"Kurribit," came a faint croak from the water. Dripping wet and breathing angrily, Amy peered down.

There was the cat, floating like an oversized pool toy in the cold waters, only a few feet away. He seemed happier now than ever.

"That was fun, Froggy," he laughed. "C'mon, I'll race you home!"

The frog dipped below the waters and vanished. Amy watched the well-rounded feline, always holding his fishing rod, drop into a makeshift front crawl and splash noisily away.

She shivered, drenched from the cat's cannonball dive. And she had managed to stay dry all this time too! Amy plopped down on the cold concrete and curled up her limbs for warmth. Her nerves sizzled like bacon.

Then, on a sudden impulse, Amy picked herself up and faced the departing cat once more.

"You…you…" she stammered. She thought for a second, and then shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Go stick your pointy nose into your stupid plane, you two-tailed jerk!"

She slapped her head. Perfect insult, wrong person.

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After the cat left, Amy spent a good little while stewing over how inconsiderate he was- splashing her like that and not even apologizing! She sat down on the concrete, scrunched up in a pink ball of fury. Somewhere in her silent fuming, a revelation came upon Amy.

Popping out of her anger, Amy looked around with sudden unease. Broken buildings to her right, shattered skyscrapers on her left and water in the streets reflecting the carnage like a well-polished mirror. It dawned on her that she had no way to get out.

"Helloooo!" she called to the rubble. "Can anybody hear me?" But there was no one to answer. Amy shivered.

For a long time, Amy sat on the bridge of highway, waiting. She couldn't fly, she couldn't climb and she didn't have the stamina to swim out of the city like the cat and his frog did. She was trapped.

But she was optimistic. 'Someone will come and rescue me,' she repeated to herself over and over again. Sooner or later news would spread about Station Square and someone would come. Her heart lit up in hope that maybe, just maybe it might be her blue hero. Surely Sonic wouldn't leave her all alone in the cold, wet ruins. He would come back.

Amy had time on her hands - time to sit back and wait for Sonic or whoever might rescue her. Time to do nothing. Time to think.

Subconsciously horrified with the idea of contemplating her life, Amy's mind began to tweak and tinker her surroundings, conjuring up something she could distract herself with.

All around Amy was rubble fallen from the buildings. Amy picked one large chunk that, if you looked at a certain angle, appeared to have the stubby ears and cuddly snout of a teddy bear. There was another that looked like a penguin, and another a cat.

"Well hello there, Mr. Bear," Amy said in her politest voice. "What are you doing out all by yourself? Didn't you see that water monster? You didn't? Well, I'll tell you all about it…"

Again and again, Amy recapped her story to her imaginary friends. She would have preferred real birds or real cats, but stones did just as well. No one could match Amy when it came to constructing cloud castles or assembling rainbows. She was a master architect of the imagination. In her mind, the stone animals gave her their undivided attentions.

"…and so then something came crashing out of the sky, and I was, like, 'it's gonna hit me' and then WHAM! This thing, like, lands right in front of my feet, and I look and, like, it's one of the chaos emeralds…"

Deep down, Amy knew her friends were not real, but they were so much nicer than Tails, so much more attentive than her neighbours or those shopkeepers. None of her friends interrupted her or told her she was weird or told her to get lost.

"…and then, when the light faded, there was Sonic, but he was, well, he was gold! He was Super Sonic…"

Amy had little luck speaking with real people, but that had never bothered her, yet. If dolls or birds or even rocks counted as real friends, then Amy was a social queen. She had been doing this ever since she was a little girl living in that town near Never Lake.

Back at the orphanage, she had been the youngest by many years; the other girls had constantly overlooked 'little Amy'. She'd felt so alone, especially since she was the only hedgehog in town. Comfort came through the small animals she chased through the fields and the birds she spoke to. They made her feel special, worthwhile.

For hours on end, Amy relived those days at Never Lake, checking the horizon every now and then for a speeding blue blur coming to rescue her.

Hours past.

Dusk was settling like soot over the dead city. With daylight slowly dying, shadows crept out of their hiding places, growing tall and mighty. The mischievous black forms stretched themselves from ruined buildings and fallen towers, twisting themselves thin until they loomed around Amy like tombstones in a graveyard city. The sky was on fire, burning in shades of yellow and purple and red. Amy would have been terrified without her friends to keep her busy.

"I just love the summer sky when it gets like this," she said to the rocks. Then she confided to them her dream about Sonic, where they had been sitting under a romantic sunset just like tonight.

But there was a problem. Over the hours of storytelling, a nagging thought had crept into Amy's mind. It was only a shadow of a doubt, a black sliver of uncertainty, but with every glance she made to the empty horizon, with every hungry gurgle her stomach erupted and with every cold bristle the wind whipped her way, the thought pressed itself deeper into her mind like a burning coal.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it Mr. Bear," she said halfheartedly. "And it's getting cold," she added, as the wind stung her once more. Where was Sonic?

Mr. Bear could guess only as well as Amy. "Maybe he's still chasing Eggman. Or maybe he's trying to get some people to help when he comes back…" she hesitated, "he is coming back, right?"

Mr. Bear was quiet, and just when she needed him most.

The wind picked up again. Amy felt like the water drifting around her was sucking the heat right out of the air. She tried to warm herself but it was impossible to be anything but cold in a damp dress. How much colder would it get after the sun fell?

"I have to get out of here," she said on impulse. She had to get out of the cold. Maybe one of the buildings would offer kinder shelter.

"I guess this is goodbye," she said to her friends. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I could carry all of you for very long." Amy had to pause so she could listen to their voices.

"Oh thank you for not being mad," she sighed, relieved at their silent responses. "And thanks for listening," she added, blowing a farewell kiss their way and trotting off, happy that they didn't take her departure to badly. None of her friends ever seemed to mind.

A few feet from her spot, thrown crudely into a pile of rocks, was her pink day bag. "It's not too wet," Amy mused as she bent down to open the duffel bag and inspect her belongings.

A few treasured dresses, her diary, piko piko hammer (she now carried the steel mallet taken from the Egg Carrier), purse and her dearest belonging: a large, three-ring binder with floral casing. Yes, everything was still here, even the few bills stuffed into her gaudy, pink purse. She threw the bag over her shoulder and walked rather quickly down the bridge.

In hindsight, there were so many other dresses she would have liked to save; little dolls she would have liked to keep, but this was all she had thought to bring… why had she decided to pack this stuff in the first place?

Thinking back to morning, it was because of that weird sensation she had felt coming back from the Egg Carrier. It was a hunch… like something bad was going to happen. She had felt so dizzy on the boat ride back, and she was sure, maybe, that she had head a voice.

'Beware, child.'

Maybe, could it have been Tikal, warning her?

For whatever reason, Amy had packed her little travel bag, and, as if an invisible hand was guiding her, she took the elevator to the roof of her apartment and waited.

Then Chaos had come, and she had found the emerald, and there was (sigh) Super Sonic…

Amy popped out of her dream just in time, nearly smacking her nose into the foot of a building. The torn piece of highway ended here, wedged nicely into the face of the skyscraper. She looked up, trying to see the tip of the battered giant. It must have been a hundred stories high, not including the floors flooded out below her.

"I guess this'll do for tonight," she mumbled. Amy was usually good with making her way around the city, but now that everything was destroyed, it was like moving through a strange maze. She hoped this was an apartment with beds still intact.

Thankfully, all the windows had shattered when the waters had come. Clutching her bag around her shoulder, Amy climbed into the pane in front of her, careful to avoid any splinters left in the sill. She hopped into the building.

The floor was a little lower than she expected; luckily, the carpeting was still damp and spongy and broke her fall. Standing up, she saw that she was in a small office; the furniture was overturned and dripping, but still intact. The water pressure had blown the door off its hinges and Amy could see nothing in the blackness ahead of the room. Only the fading light from outside kept the room lit.

Amy tested her boot against the floor, checking if it was solid. The floor squished and gurgled under her touch. She pressed again, delighted at the sound and feel of spongy carpeting. Soon Amy was giggling and jumping up and down on the floor, making it squeak and quack under her bounces.

'Wonderful!' she thought. She could stay right where she was… it would be best to stay near where Sonic had left her.

The cold wind whistled through the broken window. "Then again," Amy thought, letting her bounces die down, "maybe I should stay more inside, away from the windows." Amy gave the floor one last jump and proceeded through the blown-down doorway.

The building had grown dark without electricity. Amy found herself betrayed by her hyperactive imagination, transported into a dank, dripping cave of overturned cubicles and computers. This was not where she wanted to stay in the dead of night… maybe if she went a little further… to the other side…

The floor creaked in a most haunting fashion as she tiptoed through the main room. The sounds of dripping water and sparking wires were transformed into booming footsteps and ghastly shrieks. She imagined bats and other creepy crawlies lurking behind every water-stained wall and fallen chair.

'I have to be strong…' she whispered in her head. To speak aloud might awaken some evil beast. 'Sonic will be waiting for me…' but even her most desired fantasy could not quell the terror she felt.

Amy walked through the darkness, weaving around the maze of furniture and found her way to a flight of stairs. She could hear the water sloshing around below, so she made her way up, running away from the footsteps that echoed after her. She barreled through the first unlocked door she found.

Amy felt her heart skip a beat at the thin, red light that peaked through shattered windowpanes. She charged the opening and grabbed for the light like it was Sonic himself. Of course, she caught nothing.

Without hesitating, Amy sat herself up on the windowsill and took in deep, panicked breath after breath of reassuring air. The wind nipped at her again, but she didn't care. It was such a relief to get away from the creepy cave.

Outside, a red brick building from across the street had tumbled over; now it lay in a tangle of bricks and girders underneath Amy's dangling feet. Most of it was bunched up in a jagged mountain, but a thin outcropping of bricks ran into the street like an outstretched arm.

Looking down was enough to give Amy vertigo. It was at least a two-story drop into the island of cement below. She was already swinging her feet back into the building when something in the water caught Amy's eye.

The object was mostly grey and looked a lot like a giant, stubby water bottle with a peachy bottle cap top. What was more, there were four poles sticking out of the container - two at the bottom and one at either side. The… whatever, had a definite shape to it, and made it stick out from the abstract rubble… What was it?

Amy's eyes bugged out wide. That was no what; it was a who! Someone was floating face down into the water!

Adrenaline flew through Amy's panicked body. "Hang on, I'm coming!" she shouted. That person was going to drown if she didn't do something!

Amy threw her bag out the window, cringing as she heard her precious valuables strike the mound of bricks. Then she ran down the wall; one… two… four windows to her right. She peaked out the window. Perfect: just water, no bricks.

"Oh… I hope I'm not too late," she panicked. Amy hoisted herself into the frame and without hesitating or complaining, plunged into the water.

An electric shock of cold zapped Amy from head to toe, forcing out a yelp of surprise. The world was swirling with rust-coloured bubbles and submerged debris. Panicking for air, Amy tore at the water, aiming for the faint light above her.

She was freezing when she broke the surface and her strength seemed to have dissolved into mush. Amy slapped the water in a weak doggy paddle, panting as she thrashed towards the drowning human.

"Hang on!" she panted between gulps of water. "I'm coming!" She could see now that it was a balding man in a grey suit. He made no response to her calling.

Coming within a few feet of the man, Amy winced as her knee banged something solid. She let herself sink for a split second and connected with a submerged steel girder. It seemed the island of rubble continued for some ways underwater. Standing up, she found the water only to her waist. The wind bit tenfold at her soaking body.

She waded in the last few steps and grabbed the man by his shoulders. The body bobbed at her touch but continued to float. His suit jacket was awful hard and rigid, but it didn't matter. The little peninsula of brick was right beside them; all she was concerned about was pulling the man onto the island… oh, she hopped he wasn't too heavy. Amy rolled the man onto his back and gasped.

The man was dead; already her eyes could tell. His chest was deathly still, and there was no sound of breathing. His balding head and rigid hands were as cold as the water itself. The most shocking fact, however, was that Amy had known this man.

She burst out into laughter.

"It's good to see you again!" she smiled, and hugged the cadaver.

Yes, Amy knew the man, or better yet, the mannequin. Her hand gently patted the emblem fixed into his breast pocket. It read: Archie's Burgers-Best in Station Square.

He had fooled many people into thinking him alive, this advertising brainchild of Archie Bennet, and it looked like the infamous Burger Shop Statue had struck one last time.

Amy climbed onto the neck of brick and then dragged the statue up beside her. Being hollow, he was quite light. Many vandals had "borrowed" the man from the burger shop entrance, taking him for a walk. It wasn't strange to find him face down in a garbage can or directing traffic in the middle of a street. His palms were face up in front of his round belly, as if he were expecting a gift from a passerby.

This brought back memories. Amy had visited the burger man almost every day to say hello. Sometimes, when the streets weren't too crowded with staring faces, she would stop to share gossip with the mannequin. Sometimes, she would even buy lunch at the diner and eat outside with the statue. Twice, she had saved him from a horrible fate in a garbage dumpster. Maybe that was part of the advertising gimmick: to have people bring the misplaced statue back to the shop and stop off for a burger…

"How are you doing?" she asked cheerfully, rejuvenated by the discovery of an old acquaintance. Her companion lay silently on the mess of bricks.

Amy giggled. "If you're trying to get a tan, I think your out a little late." The last rays of sunlight were slipping under the horizon. A lovely Sonic blue was filling the eastern sky.

She sighed happily and ran her hand through her hair. "Eww, yuck!" she cried. Her precious quills were matted and pasted into wet noodles.

"My hair is going to be a mess! I can't believe I actually swam through that gunk! You're braver than I thought to go swimming in that stuff," she added.

To the untrained imagination, the burger man might have appeared to remain motionless, but Amy had spent too much time talking to squirrels and playing with birds to be deceived. The burger man was blushing.

"Oh don't be so modest," Amy grinned, patting the burger man on the shoulder. "You were great out there! I've never seen anyone hold their breath so long. How long were you out here for?" She gasped at his silent reply.

"Ever since the water came! Wow, you really are something else. Floating around here for all this time… You must have been pretty scared."

The burger man hesitantly nodded.

"It's okay," Amy said reassuringly. "That water monster is gone now. Did you see how Sonic stopped him…you didn't?" she gasped at the unfortunate man. "You really didn't!?"

"Well then," Amy said determinedly, "I'll have to tell you about everything. I was there, you know. Okay, it all stared when I was coming back from the Egg Carrier… Why was I there? … Well, funny thing happened the other day, and I met this birdie…"

Amy continued her story for some time, jumping back and forth between episodes whenever she remembered something left out. The burger man was a wonderful audience; he was always so attentive. Sad to say, even the best of her animal friends got distracted from story time, interrupting to groom their feathers or to chirp a song or to scamper off for some nuts. The burger man just leaned back on the bricks and listened thoughtfully.

"… And then Chaos and Tikal, they started to fly into the sky. Did I mention that Chaos was tiny now? … I did? … Well, then the chao started fluttering after them… they're so cute, every one of them. …"

By now the sun had disappeared, only a cloud of red embers glowed faintly behind the cityscape. Everything began to fade black and shadowy.

"…Then Eggman turned his ship around and ran off like a chicken … and Sonic followed him, you should have seen how strong he looked…"

A light wind rippled through the street once more. Still soaking wet, Amy was frozen to ice at the cool touch.

"Anyway, Sonic left, but I know he's coming back here. He could never forget me." The idea of Sonic rescuing her had solidified into reality over the day.

The wind whistled again, awfully strong for a summer evening. Desperate to warm up, Amy excused herself to fetch her bag.

As she picked herself up, her movement disturbed the island; several bricks slipped out of place and plopped into the water. The burger man shifted from his stable position. His feet dropped into the water.

Amy continued her story as she climbed up the mountain. "Then this mean ol'… I guess he was an anteater. Yeah, must have been… Anyway, he took the chaos emeralds with him and left."

The burger man slid noiselessly up to his plaster knees in water.

"…Then Tails left after him. I think he wanted the emeralds for something. Stupid nerd…"

Already it was too dark to see. Amy fumbled around by touch to locate her bag; luckily, everything was still in one piece. She felt for her longest dress, a lime-green one (which had seemed so fashionable when she bought it) and draped it around her shoulders like a blanket. She was thankful that she could not see the awful colour.

"…Then that weird cat and his frog left."

The burger man was up to his waist in water.

Amy picked up her bag and moved slowly through the darkness to the statue. She recapped her story as she stumbled around.

"So after Chaos and Tikal left, Eggman ran off, and Sonic left… then Knuckles…then Tails…then that cat." She paused to think if she had left anyone out. "That was everybody," she said thoughtfully.

Had there been light, only a plaster head would have been seen, held precariously from the water by a few bricks.

Amy's words came slower, a little less cheerful; her illusion was breaking down. "And after that…" she thought,

The head began to slip.

"The only one left…"

A soft splash came from the water, but it was lost in the ripples of the greater ocean.

"The only one left…" she continued, words struggling to come out, "was me…"

A rhythmic bobbing plunked against the water. This time, Amy heard.

It was pitch black, but if Amy squinted just so, she could see a black form floating away on the shimmering water. She instinctively knew what had happened, but he had caught her off guard; all she could do was stare at the black water, dumbfounded.

"Hey, where are you going?"

No reply. Not even her imagination could supply an answer.

"Mr. Burger Man!"

The black form kept floating away.

Amy was flabbergasted. "So you're going to leave me too?" she cried out. "I thought you were my…"

She stopped there, unable to finish, as if that last word was something strange and evil. Feeling a sudden exhaustion, Amy lowered herself to the ground.

It felt like the weight of the world was pushing down upon her; like she had just aged into a worn and frail old woman, weakened beyond words.

She thought about the burger man for a minute. It was strange, but she couldn't feel any loss for him. Maybe a little stunned at his departure, but there was no heartache or tears. And that made her quite upset, unable to feel sad about loosing someone special.

'Someone special?' her mind blurted out. Was that what she wanted to say? That he was her friend?

"He was just a statue…" she said with sudden clairvoyance, "Just plaster… he wasn't really there." He was just an illusion, carefully crafted in her mind.

It was as if a new world were unfolding itself before her eyes. "He was just a statue," she repeated, considering the true weight of those words. He had never really listened to her, he just sat there stone dead. He had never cared for her, never really laughed at her jokes or cried at her sorrows. He just was.

'What about the others?' she pondered.

The stray cat that loitered outside her apartment… the squirrels and chipmunks she chatted to in the park… the rag dolls she spoke to in the toy store… the bird she rescued from Zero… Mr. Bear… Their friendships were make-believe as well. Just mental fibs she created for companionship.

Part of her mind was screaming at her, shrieking that she stop this at once. It was madness! But questions kept dropping like rows of domino blocks.

'What about the people, the real people I know?'

Her list was surprisingly short. There were the clerks and shopkeepers at the mall… the cashier at the restaurant… her neighbors… her landlady…

Interestingly enough, she could think of no one her own age. Just those few people… the ones who smiled kindly and took in her stories, but always seemed most cheerful when she was leaving… the people who always seemed to be busy when she was around…

'What about Tails…'

She already knew that any friendship she had shared with the fox had died long ago, yet her mind wanted her to linger on that question, to stay away from the final step. The next question must not be asked… her mind screeched NO at her… and yet she couldn't help it from falling into her head.

"What about Sonic…"

Amy's world crashed before her eyes. Sonic running away at Never Lake, Sonic running away at the casino, Sonic loosing her at Twinkle Park, Sonic shooing her off the Egg Carrier, Sonic running away from Station Square. Running… always running…

Running away from her.

It was a lie. Everything was a lie. She had felt a shadow of this before. Every time Sonic ran away, the shadow came over her, poking through her defenses. Now she had nowhere to hide and the darkness spread its black wings around her.

Running away from her.

Everything was a lie. Teasing her… playing hard to get. Lies! Sonic despised her, hated her; cringed every time she came near. Every hope and dream she had about him, it was all lies.

Family? Amy had none she could remember.

Friends? All those bunnies and birdies weren't real friends, just figments of her imagination.

A special someone… He couldn't stand her presence.

Amy Rose sat in the shadows of Station Square, embraced by the truth she had denied for so long. The last remnants of imagination were drifting away in the dreary water.

For the first time in her life, she realized that she was alone. And it wasn't just Sonic who had left her, it was everyone. Tails and Sonic had each other, so did Tikal and Chaos. Even that dumb cat had his frog friend. Amy was utterly alone.

Tears dribbled out of her eyes. 'How many people died here today?' she wondered as she looked into the waters. 'And why couldn't Chaos take me with them?' Even the corpses floating in watery beds of gravel had more than she would ever have. She didn't even have a single friend. She was alone.

Nothing seemed to matter anymore; she was so heartbroken she wanted to die. She didn't care about the low, buzzing noises that filled the air, or the sharp tunnel of light that froze over her body, or the roaring motor that began to come closer. Amy was deaf to all, save her misery.

She was alone…

"Hank, stop the boat! There's another one over there!"

Powerful hands seized underneath her shoulders and scooped her sobbing figure off the island. Amy made no struggle or resistance. It didn't mater if she was in the hands of the Eggman, now.

All alone…

She felt herself placed on the cold metal of a boat. Thick blankets were thrown over her and fingers pried her teary eyes open and an intense brightness filled her vision.

"Pulse is rapid… pupils dilating…"

The light clicked off; her eyes were throbbing, trying to adjust to darkness. The black silhouette of a face was staring down at her, hands checking her body for injury. The world spun at break-neck speed around her. A motor roared right behind her head and water droplets sprayed over her body.

Amy could think nothing else but to cry. She was alone.

The blank face hushed her. "You'll be okay now." A hand patted her head reassuringly. "You'll be okay …" he echoed.

Emotionally exhausted, her body frozen, stomach famished, head throbbing and eyes glazed with tears, Amy followed the skyscrapers fly behind her faster than Sonic. Helicopters buzzed overhead, casting beacons of light over the dead city. A body moaned and shifted beside her.

None of that mattered now.

She was alone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was no stopping for the next several hours. The boat motored down the coastline for an unknown infinity of time until arriving at another waterfront city. The whole town seemed to be lit up with helicopters and army trucks.

News had already spread about the devastating catastrophe at Station Square and rescue efforts were underway. Midvale City, closest neighbour to submerged metropolis was taking in the brunt of the survivors.

Amy and the other wounded in the boat were rushed to the nearest hospital, where an endless barrage of x-rays scanned their lungs for swallowed water. Those found to be breathing liquid were rushed deeper into the medical facilities. Amy was put into a jeep and taken to a nearby high school.

The school had been transformed into a shelter for the refugees of Station Square. The cafeteria was handing out hot soup and the gym had been filled with rows of simple cots.

Meals were at eleven and eighteen-hundred hours, the army private escorting her said monotonously, like he had repeated this a hundred times before. Lights-out was in one hour. She was free to walk around the gym, but no further, except for the bathroom.

Before the entrance to the gym sat a lady dressed in the green ensemble of a soldier. She had a computer at her desk and her fingers danced away at light speed. Hearing Amy's arrival, she fired off a series of questions, her eyes never leaving her monitor.

Name? Amy Rose.

Permanent resident of Station Square, or visiting? The first one.

Age? Fourteen.

Names of her parents/guardian? None.

The woman looked up from her typing, cocked an eyebrow. "None…" she uttered. "You don't have any parents…what about uncles or aunts or grandparents…"

Amy shook her head no.

"Well then you must stay with someone…"

No.

"I see…" her eyes flashed to the soldier behind Amy, pleading for help. The man shifted uncomfortably.

"Err, ahum…" he coughed nervously. "That's enough questions for now; she does need her rest. Let's get you a bed, young lady."

The woman watched them enter the gym, chewing her thumbnail thoughtfully. Amy wondered if she was already thinking over a list of orphanages.

The doors swung open; Amy thought she had stepped into a mad house.

All around her was a symphony of sobbing and wailing. She jumped for the soldier's hand and clung to him like a frightened animal during the long, muted walk to through the gym.

"I know," he shuddered, "It ain't pretty."

What an understatement! Every face Amy fell upon had some weird scar or mutilation. Half the people were in casts or slings, moaning upon their cots.

"Mommy! Mommy! Where are you!?" a little boy screamed above the crowd.

More scars and bandages. Coughing and hacking.

"Somebody… where's my mommy!?"

"Can someone help me? My husband…"

Amy peered at an old man with his forehead wrapped in gauze. A red streak ran across the white bandage. She whipped her head away.

Sobbing. "Mommy!"

"…He's bleeding again! Someone!"

"…looking for her parents. Names are Paul…"

Soldiers ran back and forth through the rows, trying to keep order and attend to the needs of the people; but there were just too many.

"Johnson! Get the medical kit here! Now!"

"…then the walls…just came down around me…"

"…and Lindsay…"

"…water was coming at me…all around…suffocating…"

"People! Give him some air…"

The hospitals must have been overflowing; they had time only to patch people up and send them on their way.

"The water… it had a mind of its own…"

"…keep an eye out for…"

"I need some help!"

"…those names. Check around…"

"Where's my medicine…I need…"

"It was pulling me down…"

"Mommy?"

"He's dying! Oh my… do something! Do something!"

"It wanted me to…"

"Here's your cot."

"…good luck finding them…"

"…suffer and die…"

"Hello… you okay?"

"…they're probably dead."

"Hello… hey?"

"Mommy!!"

"HEY!"

Amy jumped back in a sudden movement that made the soldier recoil from her face. Standing up and collecting himself, he pointed to a bed. "Here's your cot. Second from the edge… I didn't think you'd want to be in the middle of all of this."

She was panting with terror, but not crying, yet. Yes, there was the cot, just like he said. "Th…thanks…" she trembled.

"Don't forget your bag."

Still stunned by the scene, Amy stood stupidly while the soldier took her hands and pressed the pink duffel bag into them. "You gonna be alright?"

"Yes," she said, snapping out of her trance. "Yes, fine."

The soldier gave her a concerned look, then shrugged. "Right then," and he ran off to a group of soldiers clustered around a fallen man.

In a calm, collected disguise, Amy knelt at the foot of her cot and slid her bag underneath. Then she sat down on the bed, pulled off her boots and neatly arranged them next to the bag. Then, very quietly, she peeled away her blanket, dived into the bed, threw the covers over her, squeezed her pillow over her head and clenched her eyes shut.

The dream was over, the nightmare had begun.

An orchestra of anguished moans and panicked yells screamed her to sleep.

"…needs his medication…"

"…so cold…"

"…saw it just a minute ago…"

"…stomach hurts…."

"…this is crazy…"

"…judgment day…"

"…so scared…"

"Mommy?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Amy felt absolutely rotten the next morning. It seemed like one of those mornings when you had to be somewhere but you just couldn't find the energy to get out of bed.

Her entire body was achy and crusty. The cots here were no better than rocks. Her throat felt sticky and dry, probably the beginnings of a cold; she deserved that for jumping into that freezing cold water and staying out in the wind, and all to entertain a statue.

Through the groggy slits of her eyes, Amy could see it was still dark in the gym, but there was a light coming from the entrance. She could make out a few shadows stumbling through the door.

Her thoughts (and her stomach) immediately drifted to breakfast. What time was it? She checked the clock: 10:50. Well, she might as well get a head start. The smells of breakfast delights teased her mind: Warm, fluffy stacks of pancakes, glazed generously with syrup. French toast, cooked to a golden crisp, covered in mouth-watering raspberries and lightly sprinkled with brown sugar. Tender waffles… delicious omelets… Oh, she could hear them calling her.

Amy slid out of bed and stumbled to the door. Last night… it was too early to remember last night… or yesterday, for that matter. Had something happened last night? Maybe a nice, warm breakfast would wake her up… yes.

Breakfast was an eye-opener indeed. Oatmeal: one bowl and a juice box. Don't hold up the line. Next!

The food was downed quickly and her stomach was still not satisfied. How long was it till next meal? Eighteen hundred hours? But all the clocks stopped at twelve!

Her stop to the bathroom mirror wasn't much more encouraging. Her scruffy quills made her look like a pink Sonic, which made her shudder, picturing Sonic in pink. Some tap water quickly doused that problem.

Returning to the confines of the gym, Amy was reunited with groaning and crying and pleas for help. It seemed like even more people had been shipped in overnight, testing the population limit of the facility. She was glad she had left her belongings to mark her territory.

Amy plopped down on her cot, eyes focused on the ceiling fans and rafters, but her thoughts trained on the situation around her. With her imagination crushed last night, Amy was free to ponder something real.

This was not going to be any ordinary rescue effort, she realized. This would not be a simple evacuation of a few streets because an earthquake had crushed a few houses; this was the evacuation of an entire city, smashed and drowned by supernatural forces.

Her mind tinkered away. How many people in Station Square? Three million? Five million? It was a big city.

How would all these people get to the hospitals? She had seen how crowded the facilities were; even the lobby was full of beds.

And what then? Where would they go after? Shelters like this couldn't stay open forever, and survivors would be pouring in the whole time. Where would the people go? Where would she go?

A new train of thought started off. Five million people in Station Square and she didn't have one friend in the whole city.

Amy sunk into depression again. Why didn't anyone like her? What made them all run away, like Sonic? Was it her hair, her voice? Did she dress weird or say the wrong things? If only she could find someone who could tell her!

She briefly pondered actually talking to someone in the gym, trying to make a friend, but all the screaming and bandages made her too nervous to approach anyone. Tensions were high at the shelter.

Her thoughts raced here and there for the next little while. She tried to guess what Sonic was doing right now and whether he was thinking of her. But then she remembered last night's conclusions about the blue hedgehog, and threw him away.

'What about Tails?' she wondered. Was he feeling miserable because of how he had teased her? Was guilt eating up his insides at this very moment? Or was he just having the time of his life, hanging out with Sonic… his best friend.

All of this was so depressing. If only she could conjure up a companion to occupy her time. But now, it just wouldn't be the same…

Amy tried anything to keep boredom, and thoughts of real friendship away. She tried counting how many times the ceiling fans went around… but that made her dizzy. She tried going to sleep… but there was too much noise to get any rest. Finally, she watched the clock on the wall and the circular race between minute and second hands.

Amy had to admit she was quite pathetic.

"Paul and Lindsay Arella, you're sure they're not on your list?"

Amy suddenly noticed a young soldier standing near her and conversing with the girl sitting on the next cot. The young man consulted his clipboard and shook his head.

"Sorry ma'am, I've got no one by those names." He began to walk off through the crowds, immediately accosted by ten more people.

"You, you'll tell me… if… if they're brought in?" There was no answer.

Amy shifted an eye over at her neighbour, sitting on a rough, steel cot like herself and did a double take. The girl was human, looked about her age and she was the most delicate thing Amy had ever seen.

Her body was skinny and slender, wrapped in a fine, pale skin coloured somewhere between milk white and the most faded, pale pink. There were no sunspots or marks on her skin; just a pure, fragile white. It was like a fresh morning snowfall, untrampled and unspoiled.

Only her cheeks and lips gave off real colour, blushing with a modest cherry red. Her golden hair was long and thick, reaching past her shoulders and down her back into a bushel of silky wheat. Her bangs were long enough to fall over her eyes and hide all but the outline of black eyelashes. The girl seemed to radiate a gentle beauty.

Looking at the girl, Amy was reminded of the figurines she admired so much in the stores - little antique ballerinas captured in a musical pose or handcrafted china dolls dressed in homemade clothing. Just breathing on those dolls might shatter their fragile, heavenly beauty.

Although not many of the dolls managed to look so sad. The girl's pretty face was sullen and downcast and her eyes, which Amy could not make out behind the veil of her bangs, were cast into gloom. The blanket from her cot was wrapped around her shoulders; Amy thought she detected a little shivering. Cold?

Thinking back to the china dolls, one in particular stuck out. It was the glass angel she admired more than any other. It was a breathtaking figurine, positioned precariously on top of a cliff with only her toes brushing the edge. The ornately carved plumage of her wings stretched out to a wondrous expanse, as if she were preparing to leap and soar, or as Amy sometimes worried, to fall and plummet. Whenever Amy had visited the shop, she always checked on the angel first, to make sure it had not dropped from its shelf.

This living doll seemed to teeter on the edge of collapse.

'Talk to her,' a voice in her head piped up. 'Ask her if she's okay.'

Amy pondered that for about a microsecond. 'No,' she returned, 'I'll pass.' The girl did look sad and maybe it was best to let her be. She certainly didn't look capable of cruelty or wickedness, but Amy still feared meeting up with another Tails…. that creep…

But boredom was creeping in quickly, and she felt so uneasy just sitting here and spying on her neighbour. There must be something to do…

Of course! She remembered now - her scrapbook. Amy leaned over the side of her cot (away from her somber neighbour) and pulled her bag onto her lap. She dug through her possessions briefly before coming upon her most cherished three-ring photo album.

Opening the cover, Amy was rewarded with a radiant grin and two beautiful green eyes set in a face of tan and cobalt blue. Old feelings melted her heart. Sonic…

Page after page of the album contained pictures and news articles about her treasured Sonic. For years she had rifled through magazines and newspapers, eyes hunting for that familiar face, or even for the name Sonic. There were so many precious memories locked within this book.

She couldn't deny that she still had feelings for Sonic, even though he might never return any to her. Well, just because he might not like her didn't mean she had to give up on him, right? She would chase him down and never let go until he was at her feet begging for mercy. 'And by then,' she thought, 'Sonic would be mine.'

But daydreams and infatuation didn't have the lasting effects they usually did, not in this horrible, real place where everyone was hurting and scared. She side-glanced the girl once more and found her just as she had been left.

Her eyelashes flickered a bit and, perhaps feeling a watchful eye upon her, the girl glanced back at Amy.

The hedgehog quickly averted her eyes; she didn't want to be caught snooping. Her focus fell back onto her scrapbook. It had been awhile since she actual read any of this, maybe now would be a good time. She flipped to a random page and began reading.

INTERVIEW WITH A HEDGEHOG by Andrew Morton

Below the title was a picture of Sonic posing against a brick building, grinning without a care, as usual. The hedgehog in the picture was younger than the one Amy Rose knew and cherished, but even if he was a little shorter and his quills were not so lengthy and a little more proper, he was still her Sonic. She had gone to a library to dig up a copy of this ancient interview. It was published a few months after Robotnik's first attack ever.

A.M.: So tell me, how did your personal resistance movement against Dr. Robotnik come about?

S.H.: Well, he sent a whole bunch of his robots to my island and they started grabbing all the animals. So I was like, 'Dude I don't think so', and I just smashed up every robot I could find on South Island. I guess the doc heard about me, 'cause he came to try and take me out!

A.M.: What were your first impressions of Dr. Robotnik?

S.H.: (laughs) Man, I was like 'this is the evil scientist everyone's afraid of?' He's just a bald fatso with pipe cleaners coming out of his nose. (Laughs) He looks like an egg! And what a wimp; he ran off as soon as he saw me!

A.M.: And as I understand it, after witnessing the destruction he had wrought upon your homeland, you were motivated to put an end to his terrorist forces and to overthrow his fascist tyranny.

S.H.: um, yeah, sure. Whatever.

A.M.: Is it true you traveled all the way to Starlight City to stop the madman?

S.H.: I sure did.

A.M.: And you walked all the way?

S.H.: I ran. It was pretty far, but I cover ground pretty fast.

A.M.: Indeed so. Now, news reports concerning Starlight City have been sketchy ever since the initial invasion. Could you give us your firsthand impressions of the city?

S.H.: (pause) Everything's been ripped up pretty bad. The suburbs and small buildings are all gone. Burned, maybe. There's robots everywhere, either tearing the place down or building factories and stuff. Most of the skyscrapers downtown are still standing, for now. I came there at night, and there was still a bit of that famous green sparkle I heard 'bout. I think the Doc was turning the city into some sort of giant HQ.

A.M.: When you came to Starlight City, were there… pardon me, I know the sight must have been shocking, but… were there any survivors that you saw?

S.H.: (pause) I didn't see anything but robots there. And if there was anyone who didn't get out after the first robots came (pause) well, I don't think there's any chance they're alive.

Amy devoured her scrapbook from cover to cover, gorging herself on the information and lingering over every picture. Her concentration nearly succeeded in blocking out the noises of the shelter. All until…

"You… haven't found any of those… those names yet… have you?"

The words ripped through her head. She was compelled to glance up at the same soldier from several hours ago. The girl's face was lit up with hope.

The soldier frowned thoughtfully. "Sorry," he said after awhile, "but what were those names again?"

Hope faded away. "Oh… it's okay… never mind."

The soldier seemed more than happy to get away.

The urge to speak was even greater now. She had to do something to help this girl.

But she couldn't. What if she turned out to be as nasty as that anteater or as thoughtless as Tails? What if the girl just up and left… like Sonic.

'But why not,' nagged the voice in her head. 'What have you got to lose?'

Nothing, Amy decided. She was all alone.

'Exactly,' the voice continued, 'and unless you're going to do something about it, you'll stay alone, forever.'

She didn't want that.

But she was still nervous. Oh… maybe she should wait. The girl might say something to her.

'If you want a friend,' the voice nagged, 'you have to speak up and trust someone.'

So nervous…

So nervous…

"Hi."

It was barely a peep from Amy's throat. The girl didn't move. Oh, she knew it; she was going to ignore her…

'Louder!'

"Hi!"

This time, the girl knew the call was to her. Cautiously, she turned her head, daring only to look as far as the corner of her eye.

Amy was ready to start sweating. "Umm… hi, my name's Amy Rose, what's yours?"

The girl hesitated… lingered…

'She's not going to say a thing,' Amy thought, 'I'm gonna look so stupid…'

"Sarah," came a thin whisper.

Amy barely heard her voice, but the words filled her with relief.

"Sarah…" she repeated, feeling the syllables roll on her tongue. "That's a nice name."

More hesitation. "Thanks," Sarah said meekly. Her voice seemed to be naturally soft and gentle.

Amy turned herself so that she could face the girl. Sarah continued to glance from the side of her face, her body frozen as if held at gunpoint. Her hand was cupped protectively over her forehead, like she was shielding herself from the glare of the sun. The odd move, combined with her long hair, blocked Amy's view of her eyes.

"I… I heard you talking with the soldier. Are you waiting for someone?"

Another pause. Sarah seemed to debate how much this stranger should know.

"…My… parents," she finally stuttered out. The tiny voice was a flute singing against the clatter and of brass; Amy had to perk her ears up extra carefully to hear above the echoing noise of the gym.

"I'm waiting… f f for my parents. I… I… I'm not sure where they are, but… well, th th they must be at… a different shelter or something… I'm sure they're fine, though… yes."

Amy nodded, but she could sense the uncertainty in that voice. It was on the edge of panic. She had used that voice many times before.

Always a chatterbox with animals, Amy's gift of gab seemed to have disappeared now that she was faced with a real person. She racked her brains for something to say. Her gaze was ever probing Sarah's face, trying to peer beneath the veil of her hair.

"Are you okay," she queried, "you look kinda cold…"

Suddenly, the frail human let out a tiny sneeze; just a quick, soft squeak but Sarah threw her hands at her mouth to cover it up; the sudden draft blew away her bangs. Her disguise was gone and before Sarah realized her weakness, Amy had darted up at her eyes.

"Wow!" the hedgehog exclaimed in awe, "Your eyes… they're… wow!"

Sarah froze, face lit up with horror. She was caught. Her hands flew back to her face, covering it from sight. The move startled Amy and she instantly felt foolish, even though her words had been in praise.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Amy pleaded, hands at her head. "Did I say something wrong?" The image of Sarah's eyes was photographed in her mind and she thought over the memory with wonder and shock.

Shamefully, Sarah cradled her head in her lap and tried to brush her hair down over her cheeks. A sob went through her body.

"I'm sorry," Amy said again. "I didn't mean anything… I like them."

A pause. Sarah lifted her head slightly, confused. Her eyes were revealed once more.

Sarah's eyes were both a deep, solid blue. There were no fuzzy brown spots or green patches to muddle everything; just two orbs containing a drop of the finest tint of ocean. Amy had only seen such a striking colour in contact lenses, but these were real.

Her twilight-black pupils were the perfect matches to the blue irises; both were painted in the same dark palette and yet they remained distinct of each other; finely cut apart like two faces of a diamond.

The egg whites, amazingly paler than her flesh were clean; not a single vein or dot or yellowish discolouration filled the expanse. There was something beautiful about those globes. Her eyes were perfect, pure.

All except for a sharp, red scratch going through each blue iris; two burning streaks of fire running through the ocean, stopping at the shimmering pupil and continuing perfectly across the other side. It was the fire that magnetized the gaze of two emeralds, the fire that marred her gentle softness.

Sarah's puzzled stare made Amy feel she needed to say more. "They're… I don't know… they're so… so…"

Pained, was the word that came to mind. They were eyes that had seen too much in their lifetimes. Too much sorrow, grief and hurt had come into those eyes, those perfect, innocent eyes and sliced each one open. They were two scars of pain.

"… So neat." Amy finished.

"They're weird," Sarah said abruptly and firmly. Her response was automatic, like it had been drilled into her mind a hundred times.

"Well I think they're… interesting," Amy said. Who could have known the impact that simple compliment would bring.

Sarah thought about Amy's words for another minute. "You're… one of the few," she whispered sadly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Little-by-little; question-by-question, Amy came to know the pale girl sitting across from her. The first thing Amy learned was that Sarah Arella was terribly shy. She spoke little, only broken stutters to answer Amy's barrage of questions, but her body language gave away her true nature.

The way she wrung her hands in her lap, desperate for distraction from the world; the way her head remained bowed in meditation, unable to face the glaring eyes around her; the way she delayed her responses, checking for any word that might betray her with mockery. Sarah did so much to remain unnoticed and yet her every effort only heightened her presence. It was like painting a giant bull's-eye on her forehead.

Amy wasn't much impressed with such behavior; at any other time she would have left such a boring person to their solitary ways, but now, she was so ecstatic to find someone who would tolerate her presence that she couldn't let go.

Their conversation followed a rigid structure - Amy would ask a question, Sarah would answer as best and briefly as she could and Amy would follow up by offering a (literally) quick story about herself. Soon enough, Amy had collected a neat list of facts about Sarah.

Like Amy, Sarah was also fourteen. Her mother, Lindsay Arella was a doctor (a surgeon to be exact) and her father was the professor of English literature down at Station Square University. They lived in the city's southern suburbs, which had not been spared in the flooding. Her family was obviously wealthy, but Sarah, wanting to avoid the label of a 'rich girl' covered up, saying, "We're well off."

Sarah was an only child, but she did mention a grandfather who ran his own business - an antique shop downtown. However, Sarah had not seen him for years; she mumbled something about "difficulties" between her father and grandfather.

Her hobbies were minimal. Sarah enjoyed reading, quiet music, reading, the theatre and reading. Her father had apparently hooked his daughter on literature.

"Shopping?" Amy inquired. Sarah only grimaced at the suggestion of the mall. Amy was taken aback. "You're joking, right?" she asked and Sarah shook her head no. Stunned, Amy sunk down in her lap. 'How could someone not like shopping?' she wondered.

Sarah also learned something about Amy: she was very talkative and could babble on forever about nothing.

Amy's stories were a clutter of images spliced together with "like" and "cool". Her tongue could move faster than a certain blue hedgehog. Luckily, the way Sarah hid her deformed face also hid her confused expressions as Amy nattered away about how she had moved to Station Square, life in the big city and her various misadventures at the shopping mall.

"So," Amy said, taking a pause from her latest anecdote. She noticed Sarah shying away under her blanket and playing with the bangs that hid her eyes.

"How did your eyes get like that?" Amy asked suddenly.

Sarah raised her head ever so cautiously, allowing another look into those astounding gems.

"I mean you weren't in an accident?" Amy chattered before Sarah could respond. "You didn't… you know, get something in your eyes, did you?"

"I don't think so," Sarah whispered, "No… they, they've just…… been this way…"

"Like a birth mark?" Amy interrupted.

Sarah nodded. "I, I first noticed them when I was five… I noticed that… there was… something wrong."

Amy smiled. "Wrong? There's nothing wrong with them. Why do you think they're so bad?" Sarah could not reply.

"Do people tease you about them?" Amy asked innocently enough, unaware of the tender subject she was hacking into. Sarah let her head sink down, like a turtle cowering in her shell.

Amy let her question fall. She tried to think of something else to say, but Sarah's quiet gloom was bleaching her cheery nature. Sarah would not trust the stranger in front of her with any further, more personal information and Amy was exhausting her stories; none of them got a response from Sarah, not even the one about that crazy Boxing Day sale at the mall.

They faced each other without words, Sarah folding and wringing her hands, fidgeting nervously and Amy, chewing on her lip, trying to jumpstart her brain into conjuring a new conversation. It was all so awkward.

Then Amy remembered Sonic, and knew that even Sarah would have something to say about the renowned hero. And wouldn't she be surprised to meet a personal frie… acquaintance of Sonic's.

"So……… do you want to look at my scrapbook?"

Sarah replied, rather uncertainly that she would. Amy went to sit beside her with the precious collection of clippings. Her companion seemed a little uncomfortable being right next to someone totally new with unknown intentions, but she timidly swung her legs out of her blanket and allowed Amy room. She was wearing a pair of white khakis underneath her cloak. Amy opened the binder between the two of them and Sarah carefully reached out to support the back cover.

The very first page was littered with green eyes, spiky blue quills and wild grins. "Oh…" Sarah exclaimed quietly. She had not been expecting this. Amy gave her time to take in all the faces and then flipped to the second collage of Sonic pictures.

"Is… was this a school project?" Sarah asked, bewildered over the careful devotion Amy had put into cutting out each hedgehog and artistically positioning every cutout under the picture sleeve.

"Nope," Amy grinned, "just a little collection of the sweetest, cutest most dreamiest guy ever," she sighed wishfully, lapsing back into adoration.

Sarah looked at her in puzzlement, as if she were just told that two plus two equals five. "Hmm."

There were two more pages devoted to the hedgehog collage format. Next came the giant, blown up portraits that had made front page of various newspapers. Each larger than life photograph was given a separate leaf in the album and was decorated with borders of pink flowers, hearts and scribbles of S.H. + A.R.

Amy cooed and awed over each picture, pointing out her favorites and identifying the exact date she had cut out the photos and how she had to buy extra copies of the paper that day to hang up on her wall…

Sarah took in Amy's obsession thoughtfully and tried to remain pleasant, even though she could not hold the same delight Amy had in the blue wonder. But now that she had some insight into Amy's character, she began to feel more at ease. Sarah licked her lips and took a deep breath…

"You know… I used to know a girl… well, she used to keep album's of her…" she searched for a word, "…her favorite guy celebrities…"

Though enraptured in her album, Amy looked up in sudden wonder at Sarah. She had just spoken freely. Encouraged, Amy decided to follow up. "Let me guess… was her name… Sarah?" Amy ribbed the pale girl.

A smile. A Smile! Just a tiny lift of the lips, but now she had gotten Sarah to smile. "No… no, it was this other girl I knew… Robyn."

"Suuure it was," Amy awed theatrically. "C'mon, I bet you've got a guy you really like…"

"Umm, well…" Sarah's cheeks swelled with an embarrassing blush.

"You can tell me," the hedgehog pried, "Pretty pleeeze, with a cherry on top???"

Still smiling, Sarah's face fell down, sun burnt from the blood in her cheeks. Her story began fumbling and muttering shyly like a lovesick teen, but gradually her speech became clearer, and somber, like she was remembering something painful.

"…When I, I, I was…eight, yeah, I, I… I guess I was eight… there was (she gulped) this, this boy… at, at school…… we just… sort of, I guess looked at, at each other all the time… and smiled (her eyes lit up blue) but we could never really talk besides "hi" or "see ya tomorrow"……… Then one day, he said, "I like you, Sarah," and I told him I liked him back. And that was it. We were inseparable. Till death do us part…"

Amy awed affectionately. "That's so sweet! What's his name? Are you two still going out??"

"Huh?" Sarah had found her hands quite interesting at the moment and Amy's questions popped the bubble of another secret thought. "Oh, no, no. I, I…my family… we moved he…here to Station Square a few months after that… and, and, well I never saw him again."

"And he never called or sent you e-mail or kept in touch?"

"No."

Amy pushed an insulted 'Hmph!' out of her squeaky throat. "What a jerk! I can't believe he would do such a thing!"

"It, it was just a silly… kid thing… it was probably nothing…" Sarah explained, "we, we were only eight or so… we just held hands… nothing more."

"Still," Amy hemmed, "It makes me mad! You're better off without him if he never bothered to call or write."

Sarah was fixated with her hands again. She held her palms out to the light, examining every worn crack and wrinkle. In a detached voice, she said, "I don't think it was possible for him to stay in touch."

"Long distance?" Amy asked. "Well you could always write letters. Where did you move from?"

The fine blush of red in Sarah's face vanished. She froze on the spot, hands trapped like a portrait in midair. The very life seemed to be sucked out of her body.

Amy was stunned by the change. "Umm… are you okay? Sarah?"

Her mouth dropped down to speak, and then suddenly, it clamped shut again. Sarah tried once more, but all she could do was open, close, open, close. She was like a fish out of water, gasping for air.

"Sarah?" Amy was getting worried. Was she having a seizure? Should she call someone?

Sarah's white hands trembled in front of her; a fine vibration at first but quickly they grew into a violent shaking; her eyes, focused entirely on the thin palms relayed the shivering through her entire body.

Amy reached up to touch her shoulder. Sarah jumped and screamed. Amy recoiled with fright. The scrapbook was sent flying onto the floor.

Amy inched cautiously to the edge of the cot. "Whoa!" she exclaimed, "What was that?"

Still trembling, Sarah took one last look at her hands, and then jammed them underneath her legs. She was panting fearfully and ready to sweat blood.

"Sarah?" Amy could not deny that she was frightened herself, frightened at what might happen to Sarah. Suddenly, the girl stood up and let the blanket fall to the cot. She was wearing a long-sleeved shirt of faded purple, stained here and there with dirt from yesterday's events.

"I, I, I…" she swallowed to regain control. "I'm not feeling too well. Perhaps I'll go see the nurse. Yes… yes I think I will."

Amy stood up to stop the girl. "If you're feeling weird, I can get one of the soldiers," she offered.

"I'm fine," Sarah said, quieter than ever. Her hands were folding and curling themselves wildly, as if they had a mind of their own. One look at her hands was all it took to get the girl moving. Very determinedly, she marched for the exit.

"Sarah!" Amy called. She took a few steps after the girl, hesitated and called again. But by now, Sarah was already at the door, pleading her case very quickly, very meekly to the guard and bolting out of the gym.

Amy considered following, but felt the burden of defeat sink down on her shoulders. She sighed, and absentmindedly trudged back to her cot, wondering just what in the world she had done to make Sarah so upset.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once more, Amy found herself waiting. Her scrapbook rested on her lap but she really wasn't in the mood to dream over Sonic, not now while depression hung around her, thick as smoke.

'I did it again,' she sighed, 'I scared her off, just like everyone else I know.' But what had she done? If only Sarah could come back and reassure her that Amy wasn't the awful person she saw herself as.

'Maybe,' Amy pondered, 'she really was sick.'

'Sarah was sick all right,' said a voice in her head, 'sick of you, Amy Rose.'

But what if Sarah really was ill? You couldn't blame her with everything that happened yesterday; Amy was still feeling a little nauseous herself. Maybe she hadn't done anything to make her leave.

Slowly, Amy's mind drifted from self-pity and focused more and more on the enigma called Sarah. Just who was this pale girl with the scarred eyes, and why was she so shy?

Amy had little understanding of the timid. She had an arrangement worked out where she agreed to be too busy to notice them and in return, they would keep to themselves.

Sarah didn't want to talk to anyone or to be noticed by the world. From her complexion, she obviously didn't go outside much and she hated shopping. Shopping, of all things! It sounded like she spent all her time locked away from the world, reading books.

Maybe Sarah wasn't shy as much as she was snobby. She was rich after all. Amy conjured up a new picture of Sarah as a girl of pedigree who had no wish to partake in the activities of the filthy commoners.

Or maybe she was just some antisocial freak? Maybe Sarah was kin to those pimply, four-eyed nerds on TV that spent their lives doing homework and playing Dungeons and Dragons and who were satisfied with their extremely narrow lives. Maybe she was like Tails, only replacing an obsession with planes with one for books.

The list went on. With every negative comment that piled up, Amy's impression of Sarah sunk down, until she felt no pity at all for the girl.

'Why should I waste my time worrying about some bookworm I barely knew for an hour? I don't owe her anything!' Amy griped. If Sarah wanted Amy's company, then Sarah could take the initiative to do some of the talking. Amy had more than her share.

And with that, Amy picked up her scrapbook and began to ogle Sonic again, dispelling all thoughts of the cot beside her, which would remain empty for hours to come.

Suppertime was as dull and dreary as breakfast, only this time Amy was given soup. While looking for a seat, Amy kept an eye out for a pale face with golden hair and an appreciative arm that would flag her down to an awaiting seat, but Amy couldn't find Sarah. A trip to the nurse shouldn't have taken this long, but Amy dismissed the oddity. Sarah had hidden herself during a conversation with one person. What lengths would she take to remain invisible in a crowd?

At any rate, Amy finished her soup sitting on the edge of a rowdy group of teenagers. It was no better than eating alone; none of them noticed her.

'If only I had birdie or Mr. Burger Man with me,' she sighed. She was tired of being on her own.

Beside her, the teenagers were counting their numbers.

"Bobby's here, Jeff's here… so is Veronica."

"I think Dean and Shawn are still at the hospital."

"Oh hey, I remember seeing Sally, but I think they took her to the East District School."

"Good, good…… okay, so that means that Dennis and Tom…"

"And Justin,"

"… And Justin are still missing…… anyone else?"

A pause. "Hey, don't forget scar-eyes!" cried a new voice. Laughter erupted from the group.

"Hey, that water thing can keep her for all I care! Good riddance!"

"Jeff! That is so mean!"

"You're right, you're right. We should go look for her."

"Shouldn't be too hard, we just need to check the library."

Laughter turned into howling and snorting. Amy inched herself away from scene.

"Hey, ask that kid!"

A big hand poked Amy's shoulder. She turned to meet a sloppily dressed boy, snickering as he tried to speak. "S'cuse me, we're looking for this weird human girl. She's got white skin, she's blonde and she's got these weird eyes with big red scars."

"Like cat's eyes!" another boy snorted. The laughter doubled when the group saw the confused expression on Amy's face. She had been caught unprepared and couldn't make sense of what they were saying.

"This girl, she can't talk and she's always looking at her hands," the first boy continued. "If you see her," and his voice became serious, "then tell her that there are some dear (giggle), loving (snicker) friends of hers (laughter from the crowd) that are looking for her."

Somehow, Amy found the strength to move her legs away from the creepy crowd. "Don't forget to check every corner," the boy called after her, "Scar-eyes loves hiding!"

Cold laughter was ringing through her ears as she left.

Scar-eyes…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Amy returned to her cot, brain teaming with thoughts.

Scar-eyes…

She noted the empty cot beside her. Where was Sarah? She was like some ghost that had vanished into thin air. Was she the only one to notice the girl?

Amy shook her head clear, 'She's not worth my time,' she told herself. "I don't need to worry about her.'

Scar-eyes…

Again, Amy backtracked to her conversation and recalled asking Sarah about her eyes.

"Do people tease you about them?"

There was no doubt in her mind who scar-eyes was. 'Poor thing, being teased like that,' she thought. How long had Sarah put up with that sort of nonsense?

Then she remembered that she wasn't supposed to worry about Sarah. Sarah was fine on her own; it was for the best to leave her alone.

Amy froze. The noise, the motion around her vanished, leaving her with only her revelation.

All alone…

A lump was growing in her throat. Sarah was alone… cast aside and left without hope or future… alone…

It all made sense to her now. Sarah wasn't shy because she was snobby or antisocial. She avoided everyone because she couldn't trust anyone to be kind to her. The kids from the gym… there were probably plenty more like them… they probably knew Sarah from school and antagonized her mercilessly.

Amy had known loneliness for only a short time last night. What would it be like to feel alienated for days… weeks… months… to be just a single pillar trying to hold up the burdens of the world? The pressure must have drained Sarah of self-confidence. Amy thought about those pained eyes and how Sarah seemed to hate them so much.

'She hates herself,' Amy realized. 'She hates herself!' The pillar was chiseling cracks into its own stone, eating itself up with misery.

Amy thought once more of the glass angel, no longer at the cliff's edge by will, but because she had been driven there by hordes of monsters, and now she was teetering above the abyss, waiting for one final push…. ready to fall and shatter.

Amy's heart felt heavy in her chest. How could she even think of abandoning Sarah! She needed someone, anyone, even if she was too afraid to speak up for herself.

Amy jumped to her feet and threw aside her scrapbook. It wouldn't do her any good. She ran for the doors.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Please, I'm just looking for a friend of mine. Can I come in for just a minute?"

The nurse sighed and rubbed a hand across her tired forehead. "Listen kid, this isn't some playpen. I've got some seriously injured patients back there who don't need a little girl running around."

"But I have to see her!" Amy pleaded, trying to push past the nurse into the makeshift hospital room.

"Go away!" The nurse snapped, pressing her hand into the hedgehog's shoulder. "If you're not sick then I don't want to see you." The disguise of an upset stomach had gotten Amy clearance to see the medical staff, but this frustrated woman could not be fooled so easily.

Amy backed away under the yelling, and yet a tiny spark of courage burned brightly. "Her… name is Sarah Arella," Amy said timidly. "She… just came in today. Could you at least check if she's okay?"

The nurse massaged her weary eyes. "Kid, your friend must have gone somewhere else, because no one has come in sick today."

The door slammed shut in her face, but Amy didn't even notice. Was this true? No one had come to the medical ward today? Then Sarah… she really had run off to get away from her!

Or was it to get away from who she thought Amy might be? Amy gritted her teeth, remembering about the cafeteria bullies.

'Okay,' she thought, 'if I were Sarah,' and for a few hours last night, she had been, 'where would I be?'

Somewhere isolated. Someplace you could be alone, where you could bawl your eyes out without being seen. Amy looked down the hallway of lockers interspersed with doors. Not all of the school was being used by the army… which door had Sarah taken?

As she crept down the dark hall, checking every locked door, a quivering nervousness grew within Amy. By the time she had rounded the corner her stomach was swimming with butterflies. It wasn't that she was afraid of getting caught… well, okay; she was worried about meeting up with an angry soldier. But the source of her nervousness was finding Sarah. What would she say once she found the hurt girl? What if Sarah didn't want to see her? What then? What?

Questions were the only things Amy could conjure up. Not a single answer flitted past her. That way she was totally unprepared when she found the girls bathroom. A note was tacked to the door saying it was under repairs.

The hallway was dark and eerie, just like a certain office building. The only sound was her heels clicking on the floor. But as Amy and her stretched-out shadow approached the bathrooms, a new sound caught her by surprise.

Amy stopped. Guessing correctly on the source, she pressed her ear against the defunct bathroom's door. Immediately the sound of crying magnified. A long gulp of air then a painful jerk down a scale of sobs.

She was here.

Panic overtook Amy. This was a bad idea; she couldn't spout poetry like the characters on her favorite soaps, she was just dumb ol' Amy Rose who talked to rocks. 'I should leave,' she decided.

Just then, the door swung inward under Amy's weight, making her yelp as she hit the tiled floor. A startled gasp silenced the crying. Shuffling against the floor.

Amy was not injured beyond her pride. Making a fool of herself was such a brilliant way to start.

'But there's no going back now,' that stupid voice in her head told her. 'She knows someone's here. You're committed.'

'But what do I say?' Amy argued back. She couldn't speak until the perfect poetry came to her mind.

'If you don't speak,' the voice said, 'nothing will change.'

A recent memory came to Amy. That night when she'd been locked in the Egg Carrier's prison. If she hadn't spoken up then… well, birdie would be inside a robot about now, she'd be dead and poor Mr. Robot would still be working for Eggman.

And all of that was changed by a few kind words.

With new strength, Amy got off of the floor and rounded the privacy wall, far away from her comfort zone.

"Sarah?"

The room was a mess. Crumpled bits of toilet paper littered the floor; some stained with salty tears, others with blood. The smell of puke rose from the row of sinks to her left. One of the mirrors was cracked into a spider web of glass; the recent shards glimmered on the counter.

It was a disturbing scene. But where was…

"Go away," warbled a frail voice. It was not a command, just a desperate plea. Amy looked for the voice.

"Sarah?"

A deep breath held back an onslaught of tears.

"Please, just... leave me alone," Sarah whimpered, like a prisoner begging to be spared from torture.

The bathroom stalls were empty but underneath the counter of sinks a silhouette was curled in the corner, trembling. Dropping to one knee, Amy peered into the crevice. Sarah only tried to back away further.

Amy swallowed. She was jus as terrified. "Sarah, it's me, Amy."

Amy…. The name was thought over carefully, like a puzzle requiring utmost concentration. Finally, a head rose up into view and Amy had to clamp her mouth down to keep from gasping at the ruined face.

There was no longer a delicate pink about Sarah's face but a puffy red, swollen and raw from tears. A crust of blood smeared her nose and upper lip. And her eyes… covered by Amy's shadow the scars seemed to glow read within the glassy orbs. Lit up like a cat's eyes at night. No wonder everyone thought she was strange.

As if sensing Amy's horror, the face fell into Sarah's curled knees again. "What do you want?" she whispered.

"Well, I just wanted to make sure you were okay," the casualness in Amy's voice was forced. Her mind was still recovering from the face.

"I'm fine," Sarah said somberly.

Amy would have smiled if this weren't so sad. "You don't look fine," she returned.

Sarah said nothing.

Her knee was getting tired so Amy sat herself cross-legged. "Okay, look - I'm sorry if I made you feel bad. It's just that you startled me, looking like that."

Still no response.

"Sarah, all I wanted to tell you was that… I heard all those kids from your school making fun of you and… I just thought that was awful and…" she faltered, "well, yeah."

Two red slits were visible in the darkness as Amy paused.

"You know," Amy continued in a re-energized tone, "It's hard, moving to a new city. Being new and, like, not fitting in, just feeling you don't belong. You know, when I moved to Station Square, I was like 'this is totally weird!' I was just from a little town near Never Lake; I had never seen skyscrapers before! I thought I'd never fit in. But now, I could find my way around the city anywhere. And I bet if you just give all those kids who tease you some time, well, maybe they'll like you."

Sarah shook her head. "I've… given them… a chance… for six years… and everyone still hates me."

Amy was stunned. "Six years?" she repeated.

"They call me names," Sarah went on. "Scar-eyes, glow-eyes… and that's… when they talk to me at all…. They push me down…. Knock my books out of my hands and tear up the pages…. They throw things at me…."

"That's terrible!" Amy cried. "Didn't you go to someone for help?"

Sarah inhaled another downpour of tears. "They only got worse when I tried to tell someone… no one could really help me…. So after awhile…. I just gave up."

"Well there must have been someone who was nice to you," Amy said, searching for some silver lining.

"My parents," Sarah replied. Amy noticed that her speech was less broken and hesitant than before. It was like she had been holding back all of this information for years, straining herself while she waited to tell someone. Encouraged by this opening, Amy scooted herself one step closer to Sarah.

"They were busy with work most of the time," Sarah continued, Amy's approach didn't seem to be noticed. "Mom had all her patients and Dad was always doing some sort of research or extra class…. But when they found some time they tried to help me out… comfort me and tell me that these," she pulled her bangs over her eyes, "these stupid mistakes were nothing to be ashamed of."

"Dad would read with me in the evenings, it was our ritual… and sometimes, I just got swept away in his stories, listening to his voice… and everything would be okay. I forgot about school and I forgot I was a freak."

Amy was just about to tell her she wasn't a freak when Sarah sniffled and began again. "Of course, that's all over now. My books are gone, my home is flooded and my parents… they're probably dead."

"Don't say things like that!" Amy gasped.

"Why not?" Sarah blurted, "No one's found them yet. How long could they survive out there?"

"I spent almost a whole day in the city before I was rescued. They'll be okay."

"No," Sarah said. "No, they're gone. That's just the way it has to be. Anyone I care for just gets taken away." She opened her palms and looked at them thoughtfully. A tear caught her eye.

"It's happening again," she said, more to herself now. "I've lost everyone…"

Amy felt cold listening to the wounded girl speak; almost as if she was being brushed by the same pain that scarred Sarah.

"What do you mean by 'again'?" Then, acting on impulse, "do you mean when you had to move away to Station Square and leave your friends and your boyfriend behind?"

"What else could it be?" Sarah asked, as if the answer were obvious.

Amy nodded sympathetically. Then, "Hey, I know! You could move back!"

Excited with her idea, Amy scooted herself under the sinks until she was almost head to head with Sarah.

"I mean, it's not like you can go back to Station Square," Amy explained. "After the army people find your parents and your grandfather you could, like, go back to your old city and live there again. You'd see all your friends again! Wouldn't that be great?"

The idea was not generating the sort of ecstasy Amy hoped for. Sarah lowered her head.

"I wish I could go back, Amy. I wish I could."

"Why not?" Amy asked, still optimistic. "I bet everyone would be happy to see you. Your boyfriend…"

"My boyfriend is dead."

Amy froze on the spot.

"My friends and my relatives are all dead. My neighbourhood was burned down. My home has been destroyed for six years."

Amy raised an eye. "What?"

Sarah looked up at Amy with scars that never seemed more horrible.

"I'm from Starlight City."

Confusion suddenly drained into horror. Sarah was a survivor from Starlight City - The bustling city on the northern continent that Dr. Robotnik had invaded and transformed into his own mechanical metropolis! Sarah had come from the city whose emerald ashes had given birth to the Death Egg!

Amy flashed back to her reading and her hero's grim report.

If there was anyone who didn't get out after the first robots came well, I don't think there's any chance they're alive.

Amy was shocked beyond imagination. "Sarah…" she finally gasped out. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I had no idea…" but finding nothing that could express her deep sympathy, Amy reached out and touched Sarah's shoulder, trying to connect around the sobbing she had broken into. "I am so sorry."

It was not easy to speak around tears, but slowly, Sarah let her story out.

"The day the robots came… I was on a field trip to the museum… we were walking down the sidewalk; I was holding hands with Jason."

"And then… there was this horrible noise and these… giant bugs flew overhead and started shooting the buildings…"

She stopped to sob awhile, "there was glass falling around us… cars blew up… there were explosions everywhere. My teacher grabbed whomever she could and herded them down the street. I was scared out of my wits, but Jason had my hand and he pulled me along."

"Something fell in front of us… there was a bright light and this… this wave of fire pushed me over…"

Sarah looked a deep breath.

"I got up after awhile… my head hurt all over… Jason was … I think he had fallen on top of me. He wouldn't get up. I called his name and shook him, 'Jason, wake up!' but he just wouldn't move…. I rolled him on to his back and…" she raised her hands up, "there was blood on my hands… his blood………"

Sarah told her everything. How she hovered over the bodies of her friends, petrified by the new reality of death, terrified with the realization that those beloved faces were gone forever.

How she finally broke away from the gapping mouths and stunned eyes and ran, cut with glass, scrapped with gravel and chased by the sounds of explosions.

How, by some terrible mercy, a fleeing motorist stopped and grabbed her, drove her out of the battlefield to a strange city, where she would live with complete strangers for a month, not speaking a single word the entire time.

How her parents were finally contacted and returned the broken remnants of their once cheerful and outgoing daughter. Sarah's graphic experience of the badnik invasion had drained her spirit until she was nothing but a pale ghost living in eternal misery.

She'd been eight years old and her world had been taken away.

Amy never could have imagined the pains hidden in those eyes and in those hands. But now every tear Sarah had cried, all the sweat she had shed and every cut she had bled had been poured out before her.

She was horrified.

When it was finally over, Sarah wilted against the wall as though she'd lost every bone in her body. She was exhausted from retelling her terrible past. Amy was shaken just listening to everything.

While Sarah lay in the corner, shuddering like a dying animal, Amy thought about what she had heard.

"Yesterday must have been worse for you than anyone else," she finally said. "Having to watch your home be destroyed a second time…"

"I'm meant to suffer," Sarah said ever so quietly.

Amy was feeling a mix of things: sympathy, compassion, but also a tiny annoyance at Sarah's negative attitude. She channeled this spark of anger into her next question.

"How could all those people tease you when you've gone through so much bad stuff?"

The pitiful look Sarah gave her explained all.

"You never told anyone…"

Sarah only hid her face in shame. "They'd just make fun of me more."

"Sometimes you just have to take a chance and trust people." Amy pointed out.

Sarah's response was just as swift. "I'm a freak, a monster. If I try and get close to anyone they'll only hurt me…" she paused to look at her hands.

"Besides, I'd only loose them anyway."

If her sympathy hadn't overpowered her annoyance Amy would have left right there and then. But she understood the misery, the self-pity Sarah felt. She'd felt it too, last night.

Both of them were alone, but whereas Amy denied her fate with imagination, Sarah embraced it. Amy was reminded of the poor white dog she visited at the pet store. Every time someone came near the dog to try and pet or hold it, the dog would only cower and hide in its pen. The clerk had mentioned that its last owner had abused the dog horribly.

Amy bit her lip as she thought this over.

"Why did you tell me all of this?" she asked. "You never told anyone else. Why me?"

Sarah froze. "I… I don't know," she stuttered. Her speech fell apart as soon as something new and dangerous prodded her comfort zone.

But after a minute of fidgeting and thinking she changed her mind.

"You were… different," she whispered. "You, you… you said you liked my…… my eyes…… I… well, I… thought you wanted to trick me at first… but… but…"

She threw her hands up in desperation. "I… don't know how to say it!" she sobbed.

"Just say whatever," Amy smiled. "I guess that's what I do."

Sarah blushed. "Well, I… don't……… Amy, when I was talking with you… it was like… it was like… like I was with my parents again, listening to my dad's stories. I felt like I was with… someone… who wanted to… make me… feel good."

And then for the second time, Sarah broke from her comfort zone to ask, "Why did you come looking for me?"

Amy took her time with this question. She didn't want to rush like she did with Sonic.

"I thought you might need someone to help you up. You shouldn't have to go through all this junk by yourself… because… because… that's what I've done for awhile and… I know it's no fun."

"What do you mean?" Sarah asked.

Amy tried to keep up a smile. "I guess you're the lucky one to have parents. I never really knew mine. I've lived alone as long as I can remember," although that reality had only sunk in yesterday.

"I don't remember much now," Amy continued, "But I know that for most of my life I grew up in a little town near Never Lake. I stayed in an orphanage but… I think after awhile, the ladies gave up on trying to find me a family. I guess nobody wanted me," she said with a hint of regret.

Sarah said nothing, but looked like she was in deep concentration. "Never Lake…" she muttered thoughtfully to herself. Then, to Amy: "Isn't that were the Little Planet appears?"

Amy nodded. "Around November and December it pops up and then it stays for about a month before disappearing."

There was another pause as Sarah sifted through all this new data. "And when you came to Station Square… you came by yourself?"

"Yup," Amy shrugged.

Silence.

Amy smiled and this time it wasn't forced. "Do you want to..."

"Go back to the gym?" Sarah finished.

"Yeah," Amy said. How did Sarah know what she was going to say? "It's a little dark under here," she added.

Sarah smiled back. With just a simple lifting of her lips she already seemed brighter. "It is," she agreed. "We'd better get going."

Amy returned her smile. We… she liked the sound of that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next week was like reliving those brief, happy minutes with Sonic at Twinkle Park. For Amy, just being with someone was enough to make her stingy meals taste like gourmet cuisine. The sights and noise of the shelter did not go away but they didn't seem so bad with someone by her side.

The two girls told stories to each other to pass the time. Amy recapped all of her adventures with the legendary Sonic the Hedgehog from her kidnapping at Never Lake to her rescuing birdie from Zero.

Sarah was full of stories and anecdotes herself, having devoted her life to literature. In addition to retelling all sorts of fiction, Sarah described the history and culture of her homeland. Starlight City was located in a whole separate country after all.

Sarah would recall brighter memories of Starlight City - the emerald green skyscrapers, the amusement park, the museum and the ancient ruins running underneath the city in a labyrinth of marble and crystals. For the first time in her life, Amy found herself enthralled by a history lesson!

They looked through Amy's scrapbook and tried on her extra dresses, which were all short on the taller human. They braided and curled each other's hair in all sorts of twisted experiments. One day a soldier gave them a deck of cards. Sarah taught the hedgehog how to play cribbage and poker.

Not all of their times were bliss, though. Eventually the noisy cafeteria teens found their old scapegoat and decided to torment her again. Soon after, the nurse's room had to look after a group of patients covered in bumps and bruises and Amy had to hide her hammer to keep it from being confiscated.

Little by little Sarah spoke more fluently and more freely around Amy. When they were together, a tiny part of the confident, happy girl Sarah had once been came to life.

But six years of concealed misery could not be uprooted so easily. Sarah could never bring herself to look in a mirror, and there were moments when she would become lost in the memories of her bloodied hands. When faced with new people, she was just as timid as the day Amy first met her.

The thought of her parents always lingered on her mind. Every day Sarah checked with the soldiers for anyone found by the name of Arella. Days past and more refugees poured into the school, but Sarah's parents were never found.

Sarah was able to choke down her tears for the most part; it was at night when she would break down and Amy would come to her side, telling Sarah stories to instill some hope into the girl. Sarah would not have made it through the week without Amy.

To keep fears and rumors from spreading around the school, newspapers were distributed around the gym and a TV playing news reports was set up in the cafeteria. Everyone was able to know just what was going on outside the shelter.

The media ate up the story of Station Square. It was a reporter's dream: a juicy human-suffering story just begging to be twisted and embellished into a touching drama. For months there was nothing to read about but "The Devastating Tragedy of The Great Chaos", as the disaster was titled.

Sonic enjoyed another wave of popularity as reporters lined down the street to interview him. The waterlogged photographer who actually caught the battle between golden hedgehog and watery dragon went on to riches and early retirement.

The global reaction to the downfall of Station Square was mass hysteria. The peace enjoyed since the destruction of the Death Egg two years ago was over. Dr. Robotnik was back.

The stock market took a massive dive; people began hoarding supplies and building bomb-shelters; terrified citizens screamed for military retaliation against The Doctor. It was like the apocalypse was around the corner.

It took governments about a month to settle things down. Military action against Robotnik was out of the question. His technology was too advanced, his forces too strong and no politician wanted to start a war during election year. For years, world leaders had cast a blind eye at the fortress of Metropolis, standing atop of Starlight City. This policy would continue. Speechwriters explained that it was in everyones best interest to let the Doctor have his city and hope he stay put.

Others used Station Square for their own agendas. Corporations saw a fat cash cow at their disposal and began manufacturing T-shirts, coffee mugs and other trinkets with pictures of Super Sonic or Perfect Chaos or the sunken city of Station Square. Morality was lost for the advancement of greed.

There were, however, some who cared, people interested beyond selling votes or commemorative plaques made from the rubble of Station Square. Massive charities were organized towards helping the survivors. Scores of volunteers helped the military find people still in the city.

"Heroic volunteers and soldiers have succeeded in rescuing over 200 victims in the last week," Sarah read from a newspaper. She sighed.

"It sounds like a lot doesn't it…. Until you think of all the people who… weren't saved…"

"They'll find your mom and dad, Sarah," Amy said. She was sitting behind Sarah on her cot, pulling her hair into a tight ponytail. Sarah's bangs were all that was left free, she insisted on that. Amy had her own quills twisted in braids.

Sarah continued reading. "Unfortunately, yesterday evening David Bargen, a university student, became the sixth volunteer to disappear during the search efforts. Officials are still uncertain as to how these brave men and women have mysteriously vanished, although many are quick to point fingers at the wrecked warship crashed within the city."

Sarah paused. "Sgt. Alex Bay commented that the presence of active robots within the city could "compromise continued rescue efforts"."

'How much time do her parents have?' Amy wondered to herself. Out loud, she quickly changed the subject.

"This is getting depressing; why don't you flip to the comics?"

Sarah made a face and grudgingly flipped around for the funny pages.

"Oh look," she said, eagerly stopping at the wrong page. "Here's another interview with you know who."

"Sonic?" Amy's head darted up. Her heart leapt. "What's it say?"

Sarah scanned the page. "Not much, just another recap of him 'saving the city'…. Oh wait…. Here they ask him about his future plans, what he's planning to do now."

Amy perked her ears. "Really?" she gasped. "What's he doing?"

Sarah read on. "He says that he wants to 'settle down with the girl of his dreams'."

Amy blew up with shock. "What?"

"It says here her name is Amy Rose and that he's always been shy about how he felt for her."

"ME????" Amy gasped.

"It also says that he wants to take her shopping…."

"Shopping?" Amy repeated, slightly confused. Sonic totally shot down shopping whenever she had asked him.

"For…."

"For?????" Amy repeated, her heart racing.

Sarah smiled and deliberatly paused. The waiting was killing Amy.

"A ring."

Amy felt herself melting into a gooey puddle of pleasure. Her dearest dream come true! "Oh Sonic….." she swooned.

"There's a really hot picture of him too," Sarah smiled. "Take a look."

Amy left heaven just enough to reach out for the paper and to bring it to her face…… and stare right into a colour article about pig farming.

"WHAT!!!"

She scanned the page, flipped back and forth. No Sonic! "Where'd the story go???" she blurted.

Sarah smiled again. "Gotcha," she said devilishly.

Amy's bubble burst. "You tricked me!" she hollered.

Sarah kept a tight grin on her face. "You should have seen the look…."

"That was mean!" Amy pouted, turning herself away from Sarah.

The smile on Sarah's face vanished. "… I'm sorry ……" she whispered, immediately somber.

Amy felt her anger subside. She didn't want to hurt Sarah. The hedgehog turned around.

"I, I, I just… thought it…would be funny…" Sarah stammered, her face downcast.

"I'm sorry." Amy said. "I guess, …" she smirked. "I guess it was kinda funny." She giggled. Had the trick come from Tails, she would never have forgiven the fox. Coming from Sarah, she felt all right to laugh at herself.

The two chatted idly for several minutes while Amy finished her work on Sarah's hair. Without a comb, she had to smooth Sarah's ponytail with her fingers.

"Amy?"

"Yeah?"

"That woman …… who came to see you this morning. Who was she Amy?"

Amy nearly froze. She thought Sarah had been asleep during that conversation.

"From an orphanage," Amy replied hesitantly. Then, seeing she had nothing left to hide, added, "She's checking up with kids at some different shelters too. I'll be going with her in… maybe two days."

Sarah spun around, pulling her hair from Amy. "You're leaving?" she gasped.

Amy cringed. She hadn't wanted to talk about this just yet. "I told you I don't have any relatives. There's nowhere for me to go."

"Et tu Brutis?" Sarah muttered softly.

Amy mistook feelings of betrayal for concern. "I'll be okay. I lived in an orphanage back at Never Lake. I can handle it."

"But… you can't just leave…" Sarah stuttered.

It finally clicked. "No, wait Sarah!"

She was already on her feet. "This is what I was afraid of!" Sarah panted. "This is why I can't trust people. I just…. I just get hurt in the end!"

"Sarah!"

The pale girl spun around to leave and walked right into an awaiting soldier. She fell to the floor.

The man peered down from the large envelope he was carrying. "Are you Sarah… Aye-reela?" he asked in a deep voice.

Sarah combed her bangs over her eyes before answering. "Ah-rella… yes."

"Would you come with me, ma'am? We have some… casualties we were hoping you could identify."

Sarah looked back at Amy. There was no mistaking the despair in her face.

"Now I am alone," she whispered.

'I'm sorry,' Amy mouthed back.

Then Sarah left her again.

Even though her mouth was too dry to for words her eyes suddenly seemed plenty wet. Amy kicked the cot. If only she didn't have to leave! Sarah had lost her friends, her relatives and now her parents without even giving them a proper goodbye. Amy didn't want that to happen again……… maybe….

She dived into her day bag, rifled around for something very special, then gave up and took the whole bag with her. She trailed Sarah and the soldier until they went behind a locked door. She wouldn't risk Sarah running off to hide again.

Amy waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Half an hour later, Sarah left the room holding the soldier's envelope. Her face was unreadable.

"Hi Sarah,"

"Amy?"

The pink hedgehog launched into the monologue she had prepared.

"Listen, you're probably feeling really bad, with your parents and all, but… I'm sorry I have to go. I don't want to, but I have to. I've had a really good time with you this week and I hope you did too…" oh it sounded so awful when she actually said it aloud. Amy jumped to the end of her speech.

"This is for you."

Reaching into her duffel bag, Amy brought out what looked like a large silvery coin with two slicked feathers - red and white - fused into the metal.

"What is it?" Sarah asked, half awed, half puzzled.

"It's called a Warrior's Feather," Amy told her. "I found it on Eggman's ship along with my new hammer. I want you to have it, to remember me by."

Sarah was stunned. She wanted to speak but the words couldn't quite come out. Her mind was so ablaze with thoughts that she hardly noticed Amy stepping forward on her tiptoes and clipping the medallion in her hair, above her ear.

"I think it's like a good luck charm," Amy explained. "I know I feel stronger just touching it."

Sarah brought her hand to the relic. It was centuries old but it looked and felt totally new. Echidnaen craftsmanship was built to last forever.

"It looks good on you," Amy said. Inside, her stomach churned. It seemed like such a good idea to give a farewell gift, only now, she didn't want to leave. She needed to stretch every moment she had left with Sarah. Maybe some questions would buy time.

"Are they going to have a funeral for your parents?"

Sarah shot her a skeptical look. "What?"

"A funeral. The soldiers found the bodies, didn't they?"

"What… Amy, my parents are still missing."

Now Amy was confused. "Then… who did they want you to… whose body was…."

Sarah smiled. "They found my grandfather Amy. These are pictures of him they wanted me to ID," she said, waving her envelope. "He's alive."

"Alive! Does that mean he's here?"

"He's been taken to a hospital in another city because of overcrowding. Where was it..." she flipped through her papers, "He's in Corvalis, it's a pretty big city south of here. The soldier told me he had some bad hypothermia but he's almost ready to leave…… they want me to go with him Amy."

Amy jumped with excitement. "Oh Sarah, that's wonderful! I'm so happy for you. When do you leave?" Maybe she had some time left.

"Right away. There's a taxi waiting outside."

"Right away…." Amy echoed. Her energy faded. Was this really it? Sarah was going…. Amy took a deep breath and kept her chin up.

"Well… it's been nice knowing you."

Sarah nodded absentmindedly. Her hands and feet were fidgeting uneasily like there was something on her mind. Amy thought she was about to speak but then Sarah closed her mouth. Was Sarah just as upset as she was?

"Amy, will you come with me?"

The way Amy's heart slammed against her ribs, she swore she had a heart attack.

"WHAT?"

Sarah brushed the feathers in her hair before continuing. "Amy, you're only going to be sent to an orphanage… you'll be trapped. You might not even see Sonic again……… we could go to Corvalis together. You could live with grandpa and me…. Amy, please?"

Silence.

Amy didn't need a second thought. She flew into Sarah's arms. "Yes! Yes, oh Sarah thank you, thank you!"

"Anything for a friend," Sarah smiled. "Anything for a friend."

A familiar sound pricked Amy's ear and forced her to untangle herself. Sarah was crying again. Only this time there was a smile smudged on her teary face.

Amy blinked. There was something in her own eye… falling down her cheek. And… shoot, there was another one… it was all so silly it made Amy smile herself.

"Why am I crying?" she sniffled and grinned at the same time.

Sarah shrugged and shook her head. "I don't know," she said, fighting back her own tears. She was going to say more but something greater than words escaped her throat.

It was a sound not unlike the mournful sobbing Amy had heard a week ago, only this music was rich in joy and melody. It was comforting to the ear and pleasing to the soul. It was all the happiness of the world expressed without a single syllable.

Sarah was laughing.

At the sight and sound of precious laughter something happened to Amy. There was a warmth springing up inside of her, the sort of queasy butterfly-stomach feeling she felt around Sonic but never around her imaginary friends.

Only this time, the feeling was different. Around Sonic she had never felt so content, so satisfied. This time she wasn't chasing after a dream for this feeling of wholeness. She had received it.

And Amy could only imagine the same uplifting power coursing through Sarah as she joined in the laughter and embraced her friend once more.

It was the happiest moment of their lives, holding each other in the comforting grasp of friendship.

When they finally remembered they had a taxi to catch, the girls found they couldn't let go of each other. They walked down the hall, hand in hand, ecstatic smiles beaming on their faces.

"Are you ready?" Sarah asked as they paused before the exit.

The afternoon sunlight coming from the glass doorway was simply blinding. Amy had to turn away and squint while her eyes adjusted.

Looking towards Sarah, Amy thought she was hallucinating. Her friend was surrounded by a dazzling white aura and her hair was glittering like golden silk. From her back flew a heavenly expanse of wings and her eyes……… it must have been a trick of the light because her eyes were a solid, beautiful blue. There were no scars.

And then Amy blinked and everything shifted into focus. There was Sarah beside her, warrior's feather in her smooth blonde hair, scars still slashed across her eyes.

"Ready?" Sarah repeated.

Amy couldn't help but take one last look at Sarah, just to check if she was dreaming. It was still the same pale friend beside her.

Amy smiled. For many sleepless nights she had pondered the fate of that delicate angel statue. Was she going to fall off that cliff and plunge to her doom, or would she spread her wings and fly into the heavens?

Looking out the doorway into the brilliant sunlight, Amy realized what a difficult question she was tackling. Because it wasn't just that one little cliff the angel had to overcome; there were countless dangers and pitfalls and monsters after that single jump. She might make some of the leaps and soar off to the next summit, but others might not be so easy. Sometimes that angel was going to fall.

And when that happened, Amy would be right at her winged friend's side, ready to pick her up and help her on her way.

"I'm ready," Amy smiled. "Let's go."

Yeah, the road was going to be tough. But right now, the angel was going to fly.

T H E E N D

~~~~~~~~~~~~

May 5, 2002---Tylec Asroc