...He wouldn't do this to us.... would he?

Within a moment or so, we were where we needed to be. I hopped of Sonic's back and adjusted my hair from the wind.

Tails ran up to us. "Sonic! Amy! Thank goodness you're here!"

Sonic crossed his arms. "So, what's this all about?"

Tails shook his head. "I'm not sure... but you have to hurry! Before it's too late!"

I knealt down so I could be level with him. "Tails. Calm down. Take a deep breath, and tell us what's going on."

He did as instructed. "Okay. Well, what I said was true. I don't know WHY their fighting, but I do know that if you don't hurry, Knuckles could be in trouble."

I nodded and stood back up. "Let's go."

Sonic nodded. "Right." and we walked towards the scene.

What I saw, was awful.

First I saw Shadow, who was leaning up against a tree, holding his arm. His gloves were covered in blood, and his eyes were full of hatred.

Then I saw Knuckles. I gasped and burried my head in Sonic's chest. I couldn't bare the sight.

(Sonic's POV)

I stood there, with Amy crying on me, and my eyes layed on the bloddy mass that I believe was an echidna. He was a sight to see. Knuckles wasn't dead, but he was struggling to move, that was for sure. His fists were bloody form aparrently punching Shadow, and his dreadlocks were madded up and he was covered in sweat. He was panting heavily.

Amy cried louder. I placed my hand on her back. "It's okay... It's okay... he's fine."

But I really wasn't that sure.

Rouge was crying as well, her face covered by her hands.

I had taken in just about enough of this. I looked down at Amy.

"Can I talk to Shadow for a minute?"

Amy looked up at me. She nodded slowly and reluctantly let go of me.

I walked up to Shadow.

He opened his eyes. "What do you want, faker?"

I shook my head. "Shadow. This time you've gone too far."

He smiled. "Oh really?" He said in a sarcastic tone. "How so?"

"Look for yourself."

He slowly looked around me at Knuckles.

He looked at me again. "So what? He deserved it."

"Really."

"Yes... he.... insulted me."

I crossed my arms. "How did he 'insult' you?"

"He... said things about Maria..."

I thought to myself. That's surprising. Why would Knuckles say something like that? Even he knows that Maria is a touchy subject with Shadow.

"Give me a minute."

I walked over to Knuckles.

"Knux. It's me. Sonic."

He opened his right eye. "Sonic...? N-no... get out of h-here... this is... m-my fight...."

"I'm not helping you, Knuckles."

"Your'e helping that...f-f-freak?"

"No. I'm not helping Shadow. I'm not helping you. I'm helping everyone else here who doesn't want to see you two clash anymore. This happens all the time, Knuckles. It has to stop."

He looked up at me, shaking. "Who says s-so?"

I looked down at him. "I do."

".....H-how dare you...."

"What?"

He sat up slowly. "How dare you.... try to interfere with....m-my life style... W-why w-won't you just keep your nose where... it belongs...?"

I became angered, but I didn't show it. "Look. I'm the leader of are troop. And I'm ordering you. Stop being a jerk and just swallow your pride for once."

He jumped up at my remark, but stumbled a bit when he did. "No one orders ME around!!!"

Shadow's voice came from behind me. "Sonic. I'd stay out of this one if I were you. He won't listen to reason."

"Stay out of this, Shadow." I said. "This no longer concerns you. Go home."

He took a step back. "I won't leave....but I will keep my distance."

"Whatever."

Knuckles said. "You're actually letting him control you like that, Shadow? You're so weak."

Before Shadow could say anything, I interupted. "That's enough, Knuckles!"

He turned to me. "You... SHUT UP! YOU ANNOYING HEDGEHOG! NOBODY TELLS ME WHAT TO DO!!!!"

I gritted my teeth. "What?!"

"THAT'S RIGHT!! NOBODY. NOT EVEN YOU!"

Rouge spoke. "Knuckles...I--"

"QUIET, ROUGE!" He pointed at me. "Listen to me, you little ball of quills. Nobody talks to Knuckles the Echidna like this. I don't have to take this, y'know. You and that stupid pink hedgehog better stay out of my way from now on!"

My blood pressure rose. "What did you call her?!"

He smiled. "You heard me. She's stupid. She has anger issues. I don't even know why you're with her. She's lucky to even have a man. She doesn't deserve anyone."

I began to tremble. "......................"

I suddenly felt a dark aura appear around me. ".............."

"......................Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..............."

I trembled more.

And before I knew it, Knuckles was on the ground, and my fist was covered in blood.

(Amy's POV)

He was turning into Dark Super Sonic. I couldn't let this happen. He would kill him. And not even mean to.

(Sonic's POV)

I couldn't see anything but hatred. I hated that echidna. For picking jokes about Shadow. For going against me. For insulting Amy that way....

I clenced my fists together, ready to destory him.

"GGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR....."

"STOP!"

Suddenly light became clear again. Something was touching my arm.

"Sonic. Don't... please... don't destroy him. He didn't mean it..."

It was Amy.

"Listen to me. Knuckles is your friend. You don't want to kill him. No. You don't."

The aura slowly began to fade. But the hate was still there.

Shadow grabbed my other arm. "She's right. Let him live today...."

Knuckles sat up slowly. As soon as I saw those terrible, purple eyes. I couldn't control myself.

I kept trying to pull away. Shadow and Amy kept there hold on me.

"Sonic.... no..." said Amy's voice. I was in my own world now. A world where nobody ever wants to be.

I said through my teeth, fading in and out of conciousness: "Get out of here.... Get OUT of HERE!!"

Knuckles looked at me, surprised. "What are you saying?"

My anger rose again at the sound of his voice. "You're FIRED.... Get out of here... LEAVE NOW."

He smirked. I could've ripped it right off his face. "Fine by me." and he stood up. "Later."

And he ran off.

I was still trembling. Amy and Shadow's grip on me slowly subsided.

I was suddenly exhausted.

I fell to the ground slowly, as darkness enveloped me. And I knew no more.

I could tell that something was definatly wrong... but I couldn't put my finger on it...

I woke up the next morning to a starttiling noise.

Crying. It was definatly crying. And I HATE crying.

It sounded close by, so I turned over. It was Amy. She was sitting beside the window, with her head against the wall, hands covering her soft green eyes.

I sat up. "Amy? What's the matter?"

She shook her head and continued sobbing.

She was still in her silk pink nightgown, and in her socks. And her quills were still ruffled. She must have just woken up.

"Are you okay?"

She looked up at me, her eyes red and puffy. "Not really...." she whispered.

I walked over to her. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head again. "I c-can't say...."

"Yes you can. You can tell me anything, Ames." I said, trying to comfort her.

She looked at me. "It's differnt this time." She said. "You don't want to know."

I became annoyed. "I do want to know. Your problem is my problem."

She stood up, suddenly angered. "No, you don't!! You don't understand at all! It's too terrifying! Don't make me relive it again!" And with that, she ran out of the room.

I was confused. What did I say that had offended her? Relive it? What was that all about...?

She had fled the room and made her way into the kitchen. I zoomed in.

"Amy, what's wrong? I'm sorry if I said or did anything that upseted you. But I just want to help."

She turned around. "Make it go away, Sonic. Please..."

"Make what go away?!"

"The pain, the images... those horrible.... wretched images..."

"What?"

She started to cry again. "I can't take it!!!"

I rested my hand on her shoulder. "Amy, I don't know what happened to you last night, but whatever it was, you have to tell me if you want me to help you."

She shook her head. "I want to tell you.... but I also don't...."

I didn't understand. What in the world was wrong with her?

"Amy..."

She sniffed. "W-what?"

"I can obviously see that you don't want to talk about this right away. I'll give you some time." Wow, I never imagined myself EVER saying that.

She smiled. "T-thank you...." She walked over and hugged me.

Suddenly, the phone rang.

We stopped our embrace and I picked up the phone.

"S'up?"

It was Tails. "Sonic?!"

"Yeah?"

He was panting. "You've... got to help.... It's.... Knuckles and Shadow...."

I played with Amy's quills. "What about 'em, Tails?"

"There at it again. Only this time its worse. There's blood involved. LOTS of it." he sounded scared.

Knux and Shad never liked each other, always at the other's throat. I sighed.

"How bad is it?"

Tails' voice shook. "W-well... listen for yourself."

I could here screaming in the background.

"Knuckles! Stop!" I heard Rouge shout, terrified.

Knuckles' loud voice followed. "Not a chance!!! This stupid black emo isn't getting out of this THAT easily!!!!"

Shadow shouted: "FOR THE LAST TIME, I AM NOT EMO!!!!!!!" Punching and Spin Dash sounds followed afterwards.

This didn't sound good. "I'll be right over, Tails. Promise."

"Okay...please hurry."

"Faster than the speed of sound, pal."

I hung up.

Amy must have heard the shouting. "Let's get dressed and go."

I put on my t-shirt and jacket. "Way ahead of ya."

-----------------

2 minutes later, Amy ran out of the bedroom, lacing her hi-tops.

"Okay, ready?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

I leaned down. "Hop on."

She carefully sat on my back.

"Hold on to my shoulders."

She obeyed.

"Ready, Ames?"

"Whenever you are!"

"Alright, here we go!"

And I took off, with Amy on my back, focused on Knuckles and Shadow, but more concerened about what had happened the night before with her.

I shuttered at the thought....

I put on my night clothes and sat on the edge of my bed. Sonic walked in, with a robe on and his quills still damp. He had just gotten out of the shower. It's the only type of water he doesn't mind. He yawned and sat next to me.

"Hey Ames. Ya tired yet?"

I shook my head. "Not really." I said, looking at my feet. I always slept with my socks on.

He put his arm around me. "Well, I guess your'e still worried about everything. Don't worry. We'll find someone to watch Macy and Dash while we're out looking for Eggman."

I sighed nervously. "I know... It's just that... Macy is only five... and Dash is three... They just seem so young to be going through something like this."

He nodded, and then layed down. "Yeah, I know how ya feel, Amy. But some things we just can't help."

I looked down at him, then layed down as well.

I sighed again. "Yep. I guess you're right. I'm looking into this too much."

He rolled over and kissed my ear. "Don't worry. I'm sure everything will be just fine."

I smiled. "Sonic.. I don't know how I could keep myself together without you around."

He laughed quietly. "Ditto, Ames. Ditto. Now try to get some rest. We've got alot to do tommorow."

I nodded. "Alright. I will. Goodnight."

"G'night."

--------------

Sometime, in the middle of the night...

I don't know why, but for some strange reason, I was running. Down a poorly lit corridor. I thought to myself: I can't see a thing... Why am I even here? I told my legs to stop, and turn around, but to my dismay they wouldn't listen to me. I tried to open my mouth to say something, but my lips wouldn't move. I relized that something was wrong. Very wrong. It felt as if there was some sort of pressure. It was so forebodding... I could barley stand it. Suddenly, light appeared in front of me... and I entered a room. It was very large, no, EXTREMELY large compared to the corridor. I suddenly stopped running, and I gasped, as for what I saw was truly unbelivable.

What I saw was Dr. Eggman, sitting in his Egg-Carrier, with a terribly wretched look on his face. His grin.. it was so frightening I almost screamed. If I tried, I figured it wouldn't have even worked. I noticed a long, rusty claw dangling from the bottom of the Egg-Carrier, and my eyes slowly followed down until I could see what it was grasping. And when I did, I screamed.

It was Sonic.

"Sonic!" I shouted, trying to get his attention. He looked up, ever so slightly.

"A-amy...? I-is that...you?"

"Yes! It's me! What's going on?!"

Dr. Eggman looked over at me, his glasses gleaming in the light. "Ah, Amy. You're just in time. I was hoping that you'd show up."

"What have you done?!"

He laughed. That evil, horrible laugh that I've always hated. "Well, if you must know, I'm just about to rid the world of it's most terrible creation! I'm going to make sure that your little friend is um...PROPERLY taken care of."

"YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE!" I shrieked, my rage building. "Sonic's never done anything wrong to you!"

He laughed again. "Quite the contrary, my dear. Sonic's caused me nothing but pain all my life. And now he's finally getting what he truly deserves!"

I ran forward towards him. "That's not neccesarily true!" I aruged, stopping right in front of him. He turned to me, Sonic limply swaying in the wind.

I screamed again. From far away, he looked normal, like he had only been caught. But now I could see the real damaged Eggman had caused.

Sonic's right ear was missing, and he had a black eye. He was covered in blood, and there was a puddle of it below him. His left arm was dislocated, and he had a gash ripped across his stomach, and his right knee was popped out of position.

Tears filled my eyes at the sight of him. Here was my husband, barley holding on to life, and the deranged doctor who was mere moments away from his dream coming true.

"Are you sure you want to fight me, Amy? Would'nt you rather want to tend to your beloved hedgehog? He seems rather disraught, at the moment."

I tried to scream at him, but all that came out was a tiny yelp. My eyes wouldn't come off of my once geogeous husband... He looked up at me.

"A-amy... get out of here.....I-I....D-don't want you to see this...."

I shook my head hard. "N-no..." I said, crying. "I won't leave you like this..."

Eggman laughed again. "He's right, y'know. I doubt by your unstable demeanor that you'd want to stick around to see this."

"SHUT UP!" I hissed, looking up at him. "CAN'T YOU EVEN SEE WHAT YOU'VE DONE?!?"

Sonic cringed. "A-a-amy... p-please..."

Eggman suddenly pushed a button, and Sonic fell to the ground.

I ran to him, and placed my hand on his bloddy and mangled shoulder.

I looked up at Eggman. He laughed once more.

"Can't you see, child?! You're too late! Your beloved is finished! He can't pull out of this one!"

"That's not true! I--"

"A-amy..."

I looked down. "S-sonic?!"

He sighed, a rattle in his throat. "E-eggman's right. I-I... This is it for m-me.."

I gasped, surprised he was giving up. "What?! I...can't believe you! Your'e fearless! You're supposed to be the one who never stops fighting. You're--"

He shushed me. "Amy..I-it's time to f-face facts. I'm not g-going to make it."

I almost protested, but I finally understood he was right. I was really going to lose him...

"S-sonic...N-no..."

He smiled weakly. "N-never give up Amy....always....fend f-for yourself... never stop fighting until the bitter end...."

I shook my head in disbelief. "N-no... this has to be a mistake..."

He cringed again. "It's o-okay.... Y-you'll do fine on your own. I know you will....t-take good care of D-dash.. and...M-macy..." a tear ran down his face at the thoutht of our childern. Our beautiful, beautiful childern...

"I-i'm s-sorry...Amy... I l-love you...g-goodbye...."

He sighed one final time, and his eyes closed.

I layed my head down on his. No!

No!!!

I sat up, gasping for breath, and tears falling down my face rapidly.

I heard a voice gasp soon after mine, and a hand touched my shoulder.

"Amy. I heard you gasp. Is everything alright?"

It was Sonic. I sighed heavily. It had all been a dream. No.. a nightmare.

I looked at him, and felt for his ear. It was still there. It was dark in our room, so I couldn't see him.

I found his head, then hugged it and sobbed.

"Wha....? Amy, did something happen? What's the matter with you?" he asked, but I didn't answer. Apparently he didn't ask anymore questions, and he hugged me.

"Um.. I don't know what happened, but whatever it was... It's okay..."

We sat like that for a while, and eventually I let go of him. I wiped my eyes.

"Sorry. I... um... was just thinking about something, that's all." I managed to say.

I didn't want to tell him about the dream. It was too horrifying. I didn't want to remember it. Not ever.

He sighed, and patted my shoulder. "Alright then. Are you sure you're okay?"

I nodded.

He smiled. "Good. Night, Ames." and he layed back down.

I layed back down as well. "Goodnight."

Sonic drifted off quickly, but I didn't, in fear that my worst nightmare would return.