Work Text:
He remembers the little hoglet from Neverlake.
“Hi! I’ve been looking for you! I knew I’d find you here!” she’d cheered, tired from running after him, ecstatic nonetheless. “My cards told me I’d meet my hero here!”
She was so bright, visually and in personality. He found her odd in a fascinating way. She followed him up the chain tethering Little Planet. He didn’t really get all that she said about her cards and him and her and everything else.
She seemed like a good kid, he thought. Her younger age and radiating, positive demeanor made it hard for him to see her as anything other than just a little kid. He was a little kid too, but he was a hero, and that made him not too much of a little kid in some way he couldn't explain. And he couldn't even if he'd wanted to; he couldn't verbally talk. Never had the need to. Not when he'd always been by himself.
He tried leaving her on Neverlake, but of course, he hadn’t known how persistent this girl would be.
She followed him all the way up to Little Planet. She got kidnapped by his robot clone. He had to save both the planet and her. By then, what little patience he’d had with her had dwindled. He was so, so sure he’d left her somewhere safe before he’d made it two mountains away. He was sure that’d be the last he’d see of her. She’d hopefully gone back to her family.
So, when he settled in his yellow hammock hanging between two palm trees by the beach, he hadn’t been expecting the thing to jolt him awake to be a very familiar voice squealing with joy. He opened his eyes, and there he was, hopping in place with excitement whilst gripping the left side of his hammock, accidentally tilting it a bit too much for Sonic’s comfort.
And that’s how he found himself staring in disbelief at the little hoglet girl switching between happily exclaiming, “I knew I’d find you here!” and scolding him, “Why’d you just leave like that? That’s so rude!”
He’d left her all the way back at Neverlake two days ago. How did she get here?
As if she read his mind, she declared, “My cards told me I’d find you here! I’m getting good at reading them.”
He blinked, half-believing maybe he just hadn't sipped enough water and he’s hallucinating from dehydration. She accidentally tilted him off of his hammock and he smacked face-down in the sand.
Lifting his head and spitting sand out of his mouth, he gave her the most unimpressed look he could pull. He may not be able to talk, but he knew people tended to understand his facial expressions to some degree.
She just smiled sheepishly. “Sorryyy.”
He got up, dusted himself off, and shook sand out of his ears for good measure. He crossed his arms and tapped his foot, glaring at this girl with a raised brow. Surely she'll get the hint and explain herself.
Instead, something else caught her attention and she breezed right past him in a hurry, accidentally kicking sand at him. “Oh, wowee! Is that a plane?!” she exclaimed in amazement at his red biplane.
He was amazed she hadn't run out of energy still. Or, better yet, hadn't learned to stay away from trouble since the last time they'd seen each other. He thought he had a short attention span, but this girl was all over the place.
She circled the plane, examined it in awe from every angle. “Who do you think left it here? It looks clean. Whoever they are, they sure love this plane.”
She was loud, too. Even when just casually speaking, her voice sounded like she was yelling to someone far away. He still had no explanation how she caught up to him so fast.
She had wits, he'd give her that. He hopped onto one of the plane's wings and proudly gestured to the white pain on the side of the plane that read SONIC.
Her mouth opened in wonder. “It's yours?! Can you fly it?”
He trusted his chest out with pride, as if to nonchalantly say, of course!
Her eyes sparkled. She had a crush on him, he could tell. Most girls he saved did. He forgot most of them. The faces of the mobians he'd saved blur in his mind so he never bothered to memorize them. This one just happened to be too weird to forget.
“I knew my hero would be one of the kind!” she swooned. “Can we go somewhere pretty? I heard of this mountain on an island with really nice flowers that bloom around this time. It sounds so romantic.”
His whole body said no to that proposal. He wasn't about to take this girl with him. She might’ve been able to handle herself for two days, but that wasn't a grantee she wouldn't fall out of the plane or cause them to crash given her unpredictably.
And that was what scared him about her, he realized. She was unpredictable. She looked so normal, like a regular little hoglet girl, and yet, everything else about her just… wasn't. It was as if her large, loud, rambunctious personality didn't fit inside this little hoglet body of hers. She'd followed him up Little Planet, using the chain as a bridge; she'd managed to find him in just two days and there was no evidence somebody else had driven her here; she still wasn't somehow scared out of her wits after her kidnapping two days ago.
He was impressed
But mostly, he was frightened. She tripped him up three times already, and he didn't like that. Even Eggman didn't freak him out like this.
***
He never did take her on a joyride. He can't help but remember that four years later, after he'd accidentally bumped into her again in Station Square, after the city itself got flooded.
After it was all over, and this fangirl he hadn't thought of much told him, in that sad but humbly accepting voice, “My apartment flooded.” Then said with a shrug, “It's okay, though. I think I miss being closer to nature.”
She didn’t mention her family. Just her apartment. And it was only then he wondered if she had any family to begin with.
Her dress was blood red. Less innocent than the bright green he recalled her wearing. She was still spunky, bit there was an air of lonesome to her that rubbed him the wrong way.
It made him guilty for not taking her along four years ago. A selfish part in him hoped she didn't remember how cruel of a kid he was four years ago. He still wasn't all that good, if he was being honest.
He wasn't a nice person, just a person who liked to do nice things. It was bad luck this girl got caught in his troubles.
“We're heading for Emerald City,” he told her.
She wasn't looking at him, but at the ruined, cracked, ambulance-riddled streets. “Hmm,” she hummed.
And that uncomfortable feeling in his chest? The regretful one kicking him for not being smarter? It bit him hard. “You… wanna hitch a ride?”
She finally looked at him. There's a sparkle in her eyes. He hadn't seen that all day.
Why hadn't he seen that all day? Why did she only look alive when he offered her something so lame?
He let her stand on the wing. It looked like standing on it was second nature to her. She'd turn to give him a happy-go-lucky smile.
Why had he never given her a chance before?
***
There were times he forgot how… complicated things got between them.
He thought he was doing better. Him and his friends. But then they'd get sidetracked with Eggman, again, and again, and wouldn't notice one of them sometimes went missing.
And then she'd catch up. “Oh, I hate it when you guys leave me behind!” She'd say it with a cute pout that'd make him not take her seriously.
So he had nobody to blame but himself whenever she took off on her own.
It wasn't her fault he hadn't given her the slightest hint that she was wanted.
She was wanted.
But even when he can talk, he couldn't seem to ever know the right things to say.
She hadn't asked him to go on a date in along time. He found that an odd thing for him to be upset about.
He can remember every time he'd screwed up, but can't pinpoint when he'd concluded this girl was going to be part of his life a lot longer than his past self predicted.
***
He paid Neverlake a visit on the anniversary of Little Planet's return. Turned out, he wasn't the only one with the same idea.
He found her sitting over the grass, calmly gazing at the lake, her paw fixing her quills that swayed with the wind.
She looked at peace.
Looked like she had many thoughts in her head, all of which were nostalgic.
Looked so much and yet, so unlike the little hoglet he'd met when he'd been but a hoglet himself.
When he stopped just behind her, he saw her ears twitch, but she didn't acknowledge him.
“Hey,” he said, nonchalant, voice steady but careful to not be louder than her thoughts so as to not pull her out of what she was thinking of.
“Hey,” she mimicked his casual tone.
He crept closer, his shoes brushing the grass. “Came to see it too?” Little Planet, he meant.
She hummed affirmatively. “I never miss it.”
“Huh.” The breeze ruffled their fur. The clouds Little Planet are cotton-like puffs that curve and cast shadows over the miniature planet. He glanced at Amy. “Can't blame ya', it's a dazzling sight.”
“I know. It's beautiful,” she said.
She didn't catch his meaning. The cowardice part in him was thankful for that. The rest of him was angry at him. He could talk now, he could tell her all and more, he could let his heart speak, apologize to her, tell her things that make her eyes sparkle, tell her anything and everything she'd want to hear— anything that'd make her happy, make her heart beat quickly.
But her demise was that she fell in love with a fool.
She was beautiful. She was scary. She deserved so much more than what he gave her. Whenever she cried, it broke him, because she might as well be bleeding with how wholeheartedly she'd cry, and her tornado of emotions weren't things he could fix without being gentle about it.
Maybe, one day, when he's brave enough, he could reach over and cup her face and promise her everything she'd ever wished for would come true.
For now, he said, “That mountain you mentioned before. The one you said had flowers blooming around this time.”
She finally looked at him, her head tilted in puzzlement. It took her a couple of seconds to understand what he was referring to. “Oh! That. You still remember that?” She sounded in disbelief that he recalled something so meager from so long ago.
He gave her one of those confident, cheeky smiles. “I brought the Tornado. What do'ya say we go check it out?”
Her ears perked up. There was that sparkle in her eyes. There. There was his lively Amy again. “Really? Now?" She chuckled lightly, one brow raised in suspicion. "What's the occasion all of a sudden?”
That he gave in, that this girl had him wrapped around her finger, that he remembered she'd wanted to do this and he just wanted to make her happy.
How did he get to a point where this pretty hedgehog could make him do sweet, stupid things all to see her smile?
“No occasion,” he said, grinning. “I just love flowers.”
END