Only a few short months ago, the world was shaken to it's core by the attacks made by Dr. Eggman. Bombings set off all across the world have left several cities in shambles, and it could be years before all of the physical damage is repaired; emotional damage will most definitely take much longer.

Eggman's tyranny was finally put to an end by hero Sonic the Hedgehog, who willingly sacrificed himself to save us from this long-standing menace. He is currently missing in action, and there's no telling if or when he'll-

Amy Rose turned off the television, she knew all of this already. Sonic had been missing ever since the dark energies that had been poisoning him were finally expelled and he'd finally defeated his longtime enemy.

The last words he'd said were through Amy's communicator, those words being "Amy... I'm sorry..."

In those months, quite a bit had changed. The work to repair and rebuild was an ongoing process, and the heroes were still doing what they could around their neighborhoods and cities. Amy had been helping initially, before a little complication showed up...

A knock on the door pulled her attention from her thoughts, and she went to answer it. "Yes...?" She spoke as she opened the door.

"Good morning, Amy...I brought you something."

Amy's eyes lit up a little as she saw the girl standing on her porch, a small basket in hand. "...Hello, Cosmo."

Cosmo's wide smile lifted Amy's spirits for a moment. She'd been overjoyed that her friend had returned, and over time Cosmo had integrated into the neighborhood as well as any mobian would have.

Amy opened the door a little more, letting Cosmo enter the house. "You should have called first, I would have known to pick up after myself."

"It is a little less organized in here than I thought it would be, considering it's your house."

"I've been busy lately."

"Trust me, I know." Cosmo picked up a pile of dirty dishes from the coffee table. "Let me help you clean up."

"You don't have to do that."

"From the looks of things, I do."

The seedrian walked to the kitchen and started to place the dishes into the dishwasher. "When was the last time you got out the house to just go shopping or something?"

"...A couple weeks ago."

"That's what I thought."

Amy sighed as she picked up some clothes strewn across the couch. "It's a mess out there. A lot of the roads I'd usually take are blocked off, storefronts shattered..."

Cosmo sighed, "I know... When Tails told me what had happened, I almost couldn't imagine something like this happening here... But we can't let it take us down, that's what Dr. Eggman wanted to happen."

"Yeah, well he at least got one thing he wanted..."

Cosmo paused in her loading, "...Don't blame Sonic, Amy. He'll come back to us, I know it."

"It's been almost five months... Where in the world is he...?"

As she tossed the clothes into the washer, a soft cry from down the hall caught her attention, and she abandoned her task to respond. "I'm coming, baby...!"

She stepped into the spare bedroom, rushing over to the cradle and pulling the tiny hedgehog into her arms. "Shh...Shh... It's okay, Mommy's here..."

Amy had initially been terrified when she'd discovered she was pregnant, mostly because she knew it wasn't Sonic's. During her captivity, she'd heard Eggman say somehing about working on his legacy project, and now she held that legacy in her arms.

Other than the auburn fur and quills that matched Eggman's mustache, her son looked completely hedgehog, and her doctor had estimated that the time of conception predated Amy's capture, which meant that he'd probably started out in a test tube with her being an unwilling surrogate.

In the weeks that passed, she began to see the child as her own, and even more so when he bore hardly any resemblance to her captor. He wouldn't be Eggman's successor...He'd be her son, and she'd raise him to be such. She'd finally been able to hold him in her arms two weeks ago, and she'd been in love ever since.

"It's okay, Remy..." she whispered, settling down in the chair. "...I'm always going to be here... I promise..."

"You're adorable, Amy."

Cosmo grinned as she peeked into the nursery. "He's in excellent hands."

"I'm glad you think so... I just hope Sonic can accept it when he gets back..."

The cold morning wind whipped around Sonic the Hedgehog as he stood there, overlooking the churning sea through the mist. A thick cloak was wrapped around him, providing some warmth from the chilly dawn.

The Missing Isle had been his home for the past few months, a whole other world untouched by the chaos that no doubt reigned beyond the mist. It was like a ghost, disappearing and reappearing around the world without a dicernable pattern. Some believed it had a soul of its own, and you could only find it if it wanted you to.

Sonic and Tails had stumbled across it years before while on a test-flight for some modifications Tails had placed on the Tornado, and while they'd befriended the locals and had a great time, Sonic had expected to never see it again. And yet... Somehow after he'd defeated Eggman, he woke up here.

Those first few days had been hard. He'd been on the island a week before that, held within the depths of his subconscious where he befriended the manifestations of his super and werehog form. When he'd finally come to, he couldn't even sit up on his own. One of the locals he'd met before had found him and brought him back to her home with the Leplins, a race related to the Chao, but more advanced in their civilization in the fact that they built their own houses and made their own clothes.

Mairead was kind and helped him regain his strength, but even so, he knew he wasn't back to normal. His fur remained indigo from the poison, his speed was still far from what it once was, and he couldn't run for more than a few mintues without getting woozy. He wasn't ready to be back out protecting the world...But he couldn't stay away any longer.

His eyes shifted downward as he felt a slight twinge in his body, and then a glowing ghost-like shape appeared beside him, bright and glittering gold. "...I know what you're thinking, Sandy."

I know you know, but I'm gonna say it anyway... You need more time to heal.

"I can't keep hiding... Amy's out there, probably worried sick, and I've been hiding here instead of going to her when she needs me the most!"

Sonic squinted his eyes shut tightly as he shivered, "...I need to go home."

...What about your deal?

Sonic sighed as he gave a shrug, "...I don't know about that. I'll deal with it when I come to it."

The edges of Sandy's body shifted to a soft blue, the spirit rubbing his arms. I just don't want you to get hurt...

It had taken Sonic a little bit of time to uncover the different colorings that his new friend took on occasion; though normally a golden hue like his super form, whenever he felt a particularly strong emotion, the colors would change. He'd never seen Sandy go entirely a different color, but there had been a few times when only a small orb in his chest would remain gold.

"We'll be careful... I promised myself that I would come home to them, and I will."

The blue faded, and Sandy stood up straight again. Well...If you're going to do this, then as your protective spirit, it is my mission to make sure you get there safely.

"Ah'm sorry to hear ye're leaving, Sonic..."

Sonic turned to face Mairead, a few leplins hovering around her as she came up to him. "But Ah noo how important this is to you."

"It is important, Mairead... I'll be okay, really."

Mairead took his hands and squeezed them gently, "May the spirits guide you on yur wae, hero. Ah will git you a boot off the isle."

Sonic smiled, and then looked back out across the ocean. "Hold on, Amy...I'm on my way."

In case you didn't know, Scottish accents are hard to write...