Disclaimer: Sonic and Amy belong to SEGA. Johnny Lightfoot and Tekno the Canary belong to Fleetway, I believe.

Mourning

The air should have been sweet, with the smell of Christmas drawing ever closer, giving everyone a sense of optimism and happiness.

He should have been rolling around in the snow making snow angels, throwing snowballs at his friends, building snowmen with smiling faces, bright beady black eyes and the typical carrot nose.

He should have been returning home to a warm fire, relishing the comfort of the people he cared for, eating turkey and singing songs.

But the ultimate truth was that he couldn't.

Not when one of their number had been gone for so short a time. Not when somebody had died so tragically, and when he and his friends were still in a period of mourning, even after all this time.

If he were to be brutally honest, he had not imagined that the mourning would have gone on this long, and yet it did. He evidently was still present in that state of mourning.

He knelt before the gravestone, gently wiping some of the snow away from the engraved name, blinking back the tears from his emerald eyes. Sighing deeply, he sat back and just gazed at it, becoming lost in his own thoughts. He knew he could have prevented this from happening, for he was a hero who could do anything. To the average Mobian, he was Sonic the Hedgehog, hero of Mobius, known for leading the Freedom Fighters against the evil Dr. Robotnik. To his friends, he was not only that, but cocky and downright rude. If he had perhaps not let himself get in over his head, their friend would still be alive.

Maybe if he sat there long enough, all of his sins would be forgiven, because he wouldn't have charged off in search of his next adventure, big-headedly assuming he would defeat anything without causing harm to anyone. He didn't want to cause harm to anybody else.

"Sonic?"

The blue hedgehog jumped at the sudden noise which penetrated the silence before, turning quickly to see a young pink hedgehog with soft brown eyes dressed in a lilac t-shirt and jeans, holding roses in her arms.

"Sonic, are you okay?"

The cerulean hero realized he had tears brewing in his eyes, so in a hurry brushed them away, forcing a cheerful grin on his face despite feeling anything but happy, "Yeah, Amy. Just fine."

Amy gave him a disbelieving look, but said nothing about it, choosing to approach the gravestone slowly and nervously, glancing at Sonic the whole time to see if he was fine with the invasion of his privacy. Coming to a halt before the stone, she bent down, placing the roses gently on the soft snow in front of the memorial. Leaning back, she paused slightly, sighing.

"Amy?"

The pink hedgehog turned her gaze back towards the blue hedgehog, who seemed to look awfully uncomfortable all of a sudden, "Do you think it's my fault?"

Amy blinked, "What are you talking about, Sonic?"

"They don't need to say it, Amy," the blue hedgehog began again, causing Amy to look confused at the dramatic change of subject, "I know what they're thinking. They think I did it."

"Did what?"

Sonic's gaze turned towards the gravestone suddenly, causing Amy to gasp in shock, shake her head ferociously, and approach Sonic all at once, "No. Don't ever think that."

Sonic's gaze averted from hers quickly, choosing to gaze at his feet instead, "I'm a selfish, rude, big-headed jerk, and that's why… that's why he's dead."

"That's not it at all, Sonic," Amy said fiercely, "It was Chaos' fault, and don't you forget that."

"I could have stopped Chaos from killing him," Sonic exclaimed stubbornly, clenching his fists, feeling angry at himself, and feeling angry at her for not understanding, "I could have saved him."

"You tried, Sonic," Amy said softly, allowing her hand to gently touch Sonic's shoulder, "You tried, and that counts for everything. Nobody thinks it was your fault."

"Do you?"

"What?"

"Do you think it's my fault, Amy?" Sonic urgently repeated, glancing at her face now, intent for answers.

Once upon a time he would have refrained from asking such a silly question – after all, he was the hero and he was at fault for very little. But this… this had seen a drastic change in him. Amy shook her head softly, "No, I don't."

A short silence followed, before Sonic touched upon what he considered uncomfortable territory, "You loved him, didn't you?"

Amy tensed a little, looking a little saddened, almost as if she had been hoping beyond hope that this subject would not be mentioned. Finally, after a short silence, she mumbled in a small voice, "I think I did."

"Oh."

He didn't really know what to feel. The prospect of Amy being in love with somebody else had not originally been of much bother to him. When he had first met her, she had been drafted into the Freedom Fighters because she had been spreading rumours of being his girlfriend, putting her life at risk at the hands of Dr. Robotnik. She had been an annoyance, consistently lying about their relationship to other Mobians and seeking attention. Things had changed however; she had become a mature young woman looking for love, and had gone elsewhere to find it, knowing she likely would struggle to find it within him as he was just so… carefree and non-committing.

Now, though, the knowledge of Amy loving somebody else hurt for reasons Sonic didn't think he would ever be able to explain.

Sonic was broken out of his thoughts but Amy's hand gently reaching underneath his chin, "But he'd want me to be happy and move on."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean," Amy began, unsure of how to word what she wanted to say, "that the same would apply to you. He wouldn't want you to mope. That's not like you at all. He'd want you to be happy, and carry on with the Freedom Fighters, take down Robotnik and live in a Mobius free from his evil."

Sonic smiled slightly, "Even if it means me being a rude and cocky idiot?"

"Especially if that's what it means. We wouldn't have you any other way."

"Thanks Amy," Sonic grinned at her, and for the first time ever, found himself pulling her into a hug, "You're a lot smarter than I thought."

Amy grinned, ignoring the temptation to give the other hedgehog a sharp elbow in the ribs for his remark, "Shall we go and find the others?"

"Yeah, I suppose so," Sonic nodded, extending his hand towards the pink hedgehog in an act of politeness, "Gotta talk to Tekno about something anyway."

The two glanced down upon the headstone, allowing the lingering silence to consume them briefly as they gazed at it, thinking of him and his bravery.

Here lies Johnny Lightfoot
Died 31-08-2002

Linking arms, Amy and Sonic whispered their goodbyes to their lost friend before they began to find their way back to their friends, knowing that, wherever he was, he would be proud of them.

Everything would be okay. It just needed time.

To make things clearer, this is a Sonic/Amy, but set in the Fleetway universe which is rarely used. In the Fleetway comics, Amy is a lot more mature as a character, while Sonic is more arrogant. Amy had brown eyes in the Fleetway comics, which were only sold in the UK to my knowledge, and doesn't sell anymore these days.