Chaos Born

Digging for Dirt

The steady stream of bleep noises seemed to drift into background noise as Amy stood and waited for the food to be priced and packed, lost in a faraway daydream of her 'wild' youth and how her life had suddenly fallen into orbit around 'Centre of the Solar System', Sonic.

She liked astronomy, she had decided, but this was the first time she had envisioned she and her friends as planets.

Sonic was, without doubt, the centre, the burning sun that drew in everyone else. Already the Sonic Allies Group was a vast Solar System with Tails holding proud position as the 'Planet Closest To The Sun'. Amy was a close second, she had decided quite forcefully, as the "beautiful" Venus.

She supposed that made Knuckles Mobius or 'Earth' as the Other-Worlders called it. Well, that was Knuckles all over - the earthy, immovable rock that seemed to be quite content where he was, none too keen to be shifted from his spot.

But Amy was pleased to be Venus.

It had been a rollercoaster, her relationship with Sonic, though her introduction to the blue hero could have been much more romantic, in her opinion.

She gave a violent shake as sudden red optics flashed into her mind, the grinding scrapes of metal joints and the menacing, talon-like fingers... all dressed in blue... Metal Sonic had haunted Amy's nightmares for years since being abducted by him on that first day she had met Sonic.

But that was in the past. Metal hadn't been heard from in an age and Sonic was a cemented part of her life now, whatever that life would come to.

Amy paid for her food and bade farewell to the cashier, taking a bag in each hand and making her way home.

"Hi, honey!" a recognisable voice hailed her. Rouge appeared at her side, taking a bag. "Need a hand? This is a lot of stuff for just yourself."

"Actually I'm having a dinner party tomorrow evening," Amy replied, smiling at that bat, "Oh and thanks for the help." She had once despised Rouge and had treated her as a rival.

During the early days, Rouge had an insatiable desire to flirt with each and every handsome fella she clapped eyes on and Sonic hadn't been able to slip under her radar at all. Now that Rouge had settled with rugged Knuckles, Amy was more keen to make a friend of Rouge rather than an enemy.

"Shame," the curvy bat had sighed, "I was hoping to hear you and Big Blue were planning a steamy date together. Candlelight meal, slow jazz in the background, bearskin rug in front of the fireplace... Oh well, so much for juicy gossip."

Amy rolled her eyes. Rouge really hadn't changed a bit in that respect and her flirty nickname for Sonic had stuck ever since she had first come up with it several years ago. 

"Sonic will be there," the pink hedgehog had assured her friend, "but so will Tails and Zooey. And little Rosemary too. She's such a darling."

Rouge blinked.

 "Quite," she hummed and then stretched her wings as the two women turned down a lane towards Amy's cottage. "Seems a lifetime ago," she then murmured, seemingly to herself.

"What does?" Amy asked.

"Cosmo," Rouge replied, for she had been thinking about Rosemary, the Seedrian's daughter, "That whole adventure out in space with the Meterex and what have you. Seems a lifetime ago."

"Yeah," Amy just nodded sadly.

"I'll bet Tails isn't one to think about... what happened," Rouge pressed on, gnawing her lip for the right words to use, "It was hard on all of us but for him..."