Once More to See You Chapter 5
Guys i am so sorry for not updating in the promised two weeks. Work got so busy and I had to do a whole freaking presentation on my work. But that isn't an excuse. I'll promise to be better! Anyways this is kinda a filler ish thing. Next chapter is when the fun will start teehee!!!! Have fun with this! This is crossposted on AO3 and FF.net! I seriously love you guys and all your support!
Knuckles wasnāt really sure what he could make of the last two years. They were blurry, or maybe he just didnāt want to remember how life was now. He just got up, went to work, ate, slept. He hasnāt gone back to his island in months; thereās nothing to go back to. Amy told him to stay around people anyways, thatās what he tells himself.
He was not lying when he said they have done everything, they have. But the thought of Amy being gone forever like everything else around them felt like saying a curse. The statement was something that people in the Restoration wonāt even think about. The mission is to bring back what Eggman took, and this time for good. But times are hard, he canāt help but just go every day by āwhat would Amy do now?ā and āwhat would Amy say now?ā The cycle was lung-collapsing and exhausting, but Knuckles was used to losing those he cared about, he wasnāt like Sonic, or Cream, or Tails, he knew this feeling and he knew he was carry it on his shoulders until the day he leaves this earth too.
But it still hurts, it hurts like nothing else in the world. And it hurts even more to see everyone around him suffer from something that happened soĀ fast. Amyās presence felt like such a long time ago, but at the same time the pain felt raw, like it happened yesterday.
To Knuckles, Sonic was quite a puzzle, but he was easy to piece together if you really tried. He expressed emotions differently than anyone he knew, not that he showed much. He can remember, though, how Amyās personality always brought out the best of Sonic, the best in everyone, actually. Even himself.
It was his idea to stay in the present. Someone had to hold down the fort, and there would be another him where they were going anyways. But deep down, he also didnāt know if he could handle the situation where sheĀ reallyĀ isnāt coming back. Handle what heās going to do after, and handle Sonic. And he doesnāt think heāll barely be able to handleĀ himself.
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When Shadow lost Maria, he knew he would never be the same again. The crumbling, drowning feeling never left his chest. It was unfair, how could he-a weapon-live while Maria, the most pure-hearted person he knew, couldnāt? Everything was unfair, nothing ever went his way.
So, when he arrived with Team Dark to that cursed battlefield, only to see a beautiful modern rendition of the day he lost Maria, he knew he had failed. The absoluteĀ secondĀ he saw Sonicās frame arched over Amy, close to his chest, he knew. He knew exactly what happened. And he was ashamed he couldnāt stop it this time. But of course, history repeats itself; because that same, drowning, sick feeling bubbled up in his chest again just like that fateful day he lost the person he loved the most in this world.
There were times when Amy would say, or do, things that blurred his vision and deafened everything around him and suddenly the soft face of Maria would replace the pink hedgehogās. How loud, boisterous personality, but also her emotional intelligence and intimacy that she shared with everyone she met. Her and Maria shared a radiance of bright, loud,Ā hopeĀ that it was almost irritating to be around her.
But also, for that, Shadow held a small soft spot for Amy and her hopeless endeavors. It was true, she had a way to get to anyone. Some things just never change, like the way Shadow couldnāt stop seeing a certain blonde-haired girl in this ridiculous pink hedgehog. But he liked it that way. Her face when he brings her to a new concert, or when she visits with coffee, or when she talks to him about just about anything. He treasured those moments. It reminded him of the time he wasnāt a trained weapon or a killer, but a friend, and had a family.
He wouldnāt be lying if he never accepted the similarities between him and Sonic. But not in the case youāre thinking about. Sonic is someone Shadow sees himself in, he sees the hedgehog he would have become if perhaps Maria was still with him. But more than that, the love he sees between Sonic and Amy is something so familiar to him, it was the close relationship, the tied souls, locked hearts, that he and Maria shared. Shadow only watched from a distance, allowing himself to feel that hit of melancholy and sorrow every now and then as he pondered on the complex and quite irritating relationship the two young hedgehogs shared. The parallels were there, the deep connection was there too, but he wasnāt one to believe in silly parallelism theories. Deep down, though, there was that dark, terrifying thought; that Sonicās story will end very similarly to one he knewĀ very, very well.
When Shadow turned the corner, shortly after Sonic returned from his time at Amyās home, he found Sonic sitting on the dead ground and watching the evening become dawn, turning he back against the walls of the restoration . For the first time since Amy became gone, he saw Sonicās smile turn into the deep frown that is behind that disgusting grin he performed. Shadow has had his fair share of being proven wrong by Sonicās terribly made leap-of-faith plans to know that Sonic means business this time around. Usually, his conversations with the blue hedgehog were short and down to business, mainly because looking at his face felt like looking in a mirror and it was too familiar to bear. But he only leaned his back on the cement wall of the outside of the restoration building and crossed his arms.
āIt doesnāt go away, does it?ā
Sonicās eyes stay still, his frame illuminated by the bright reds and oranges of the sunset hitting the dead mountains ahead. Shadow closes his eyes; he canāt look at the sunset for too long or that sorrowful feeling in his chest will erupt once again.
āThe sound of her voice will haunt you. Until, one day, you lose that, too.ā
The sorrow in Sonicās eyes erupt in a swarm of great pain. His arm was slung over his raised knee but his frame sagged in a newfound aura of grief.
āYou felt like you hadnāt said enough to her?ā
āEvery day of my life.ā
A long sigh came out of the blue hedgehogās mouth. His chest rising a falling in deep patterns.
āIām going to bring her back to me. No matter what, Shadow! I still have a lot to say to her and Iāll be damned to let Eggman stop me from that.ā He abruptly got back up and turned his body towards Shadow, bringing up a thumbs up and his trademark, real, grin and wink. But then his face turned serious and his voice deepened, he held eye contact with the older hedgehog with a straight back and rigid shoulders. But his eyes carried a soft touch to them.
āAnd Iāll be damned to let history repeat itself.ā With a small grin and a familiar glint in his eye the blue blur sped away. Still in his pose leaned against the wall, Shadow let his muzzle sport a smirk that was slowly forming from his trademark frown.
Maria wouldāve loved Amy.
The plan was ridiculous, unbelievable, and quite literally impossible. But it screamed Sonic the Hedgehog. For the first time in years, Sonic had that adventurous glint in his eyes back, and it was enough to grow the fruits of hope in everyoneās gardens. He was so excited for the plan to start he ran through the Restoration HQ twelve times and plea his goodbyes. Time travel was complex, for all they knew, a day in the past could equate to a week, month, or even aĀ yearĀ in the future. Even so, it was extremely important to control all aspects of the experiment except the enerbeam. Something so small as to a simple word can change the state of the future or even destroy it.
Sonic has no idea when he became such aĀ wimp. He is so ready, so willing, to do anything in the world to get Amy back. He was so desperate, there was a time he was ready to doĀ anythingĀ and for one small, fraction of a millisecond, he wanted it to be anybody else. He doesnāt exactly know what happened to him after that thought, if he erased the thought as quick as it came or if he drowned it into the back of his head. Gone, but the bodyās still there.
Amy had the ability to make him feel like a million bucks, she also had the ability to make him feel like shit on the dead cold earth. I guess you could say she does both willingly.
But this machine-thing Tails has made, it makes his chest inflate and his eyes shine brighter, heāsĀ excited. Every idea got him so worked up only for them to end in failure, a dead end. They hit so many dead ends that there was no more pavement left. That was until they decided to run off the road, or Tails did, in this case. And that got him excited. He cleaned Amyās house about a hundred times, removed all the plastic garden to make room for hers to come back. Then he ran around HQ exactly 16 times before he entered Amyās office. The office that stood like a time capsule of the time before Eggman took everything he loved. The office that still was so, entirely, Amy Rose.
Sonic knew her scent was washing away from her house. But her office placed a new anchor into his gut. He couldnāt remember, he couldnāt remember if this was the scent of her quills, her clothes, or her skin, or even if they were all different scents.
āSonicā Knuckles walks up behind him with a stern look on his face. The Blue Blur only hummed in response, turning to look at his good friend.
āI know youāre real excited over this. Butā¦.ā His eyes shook and his mouth turned into a tight line, his palms squeezed Sonicās shoulders with a taste of anxiety brimming off his fingertips.
āI need you to promiseā¦promise me that you wonāt lose sight of everything after you see her again.ā His voice was authentic, real. Grounding. He didnāt know what he was actually excited about. Their mission was so open ended and he was going around giving empty answers. Was it that, in the moment, he sees her eyes again, feels her skin, hears her voice andĀ her voice, that heāll forget about everything. What was he really excited about, seeing her again or bringing her back?
āHaā¦. Relax, Knux. Itās my responsibility to bring her back. I-ā He took a shattering, deep breath and could already feel the slight tremble growing from his fingertips, he needs to get out of here, fast. āShe was always my responsibility, I was-AM-her Hero, a-and sheāll always be for me to-ā His pupils dilated and his frame staggered and started to break. He knew this feeling, heĀ knewĀ it. Practically memorized the patterns and the pain that shocks his body and his contracting chest and his sight blurring. Knucklesā palms pressed harder into his shoulders, his eyes softening at the display. Knuckles knew what Sonic would react, but he couldnāt let him hurt himself even more if, in reality, Amy canāt come back to them. Going back into the past to see Amy, evenĀ watchĀ her leave them, once again. He doesnāt want to know what would happen to Sonic. He doesnāt even want toĀ thinkĀ of it. He can barely bear losing one friend, he doesnāt know if he can take losing another.
āSonic.Ā Listen to me.ā Knuckles held his posture steady, but his throat bobbed up and down and his mittens slightly shivered. āThe world needs you.Ā WeĀ need you. Donāt make this decision if itās going to kill you, Sonic. Amy would-ā
There was a pause, Knuckles took a deep, calculated breath, āAmy would want you toĀ live. You know that. She wanted that more than everything.ā
Sonicās chest slowed to deep, concentrated and full breaths. But his eyes still shook in intensity, holding onto Knucklesā purple irises and narrowing in confirmation. Silence embraced the room, with the now unfamiliar scent of Amyās shampooĀ or was it conditionerĀ wafting in waves into their noses.
āI have to see her again, Knuckles.ā The voice was calm, but it still held onto a thread of desperation, a tone of sorrow and a hint of mellow pain.
A single look in his eyes told Knuckles the truth. Long ago, before this all happened, and before Amy left them, there was a time. A time when Restoration HQ was full mobians talking and laughing, when the main foyer was once used to host team lunches after each battle, and when the training grounds outside the building was once used for birthdays and picnics. Not a single team lunch, or party, or birthday has occurred for a long time now. All except one. When Amyās birthday came along, all went silent. No words were spoken, nor any celebration. HQ was silent and empty, no one ever went showed on that day. But before all that, when the restoration was first made, Sonic was just retrieved from the moon, and the world was seriously going to end by the hands of Eggman. There was a moment.
The world was burnt to ash, and Amy had just sent off the last reconnaissance plane with their lasting survivors. Sonic and the gang watched as the new recruit rejoined them. She believed with her entire heart that they were going to win, she had previously declared so just moments before activating departure. But when she walked to Sonicās side and pulled her blowing quills behind a ear against the blasting winds of the plane, she said a single sentence.
āSonic, if something happens to me.āĀ She started, and Sonic turned his head towards her. Her form stood facing the burnt red sunset, and her mouth formed her trademark smile,Ā āI hope, one day, when time comes, you will fall in love.ā
āYouā¦really miss her, huh?ā Knuckleās gruff voice grumbled from his lips, but his eyes turned downwards, his frame collapsing and his ābig manā mask slipping. Sonicās eyes only narrowed slightly.
āMore than you think.ā He whispered out as his eyes glazed over with a fog
Time did pass, and Sonic never really did fall in love.
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