SELECTIVE AMNESIA ©
                   by Matt Page (aka, Fallout)

                                   DAY 3


CHAPTER 11

     It was a long time before Bunnie could get Tails to fall
asleep.  The storm was raging all night and he insisted that Bunnie
sleep in the same bed with him.  Exhaustedly, Bunnie accepted, but
she knew there had to be some way to leave without waking him....
     Meanwhile,  in the wee hours of the morning, Bookshire
and Rotor paced the room.  Antoine, too fastidious to perform
what would be too close to physical labor while thinking, simply
sat in a nearby chair, rubbing his temples.
     Suddenly, Bookshire asked, "You waterproofed that sensor,
didn't you, Rotor?"
     "Of course I did!" he snapped.  "What, you think I'm some
sort of idiot!?"
     "I didn't say that!" the doctor protested.
     "Why are you to be calling my friend idiot, Missiour Bookshire?"
Antoine cut in.  "He MADE zee vunderful contraptione!"
     "I never said that--"
     "Shut up, Antoine," Rotor interrupted.
     "But--"
     "EVERYONE close their yaps!"  Bookshire, Antoine, and
Rotor all looked at the doorway.  Bunnie stood there, arms
folded over her chest.  She wore a look of annoyance and distrust.
"Y'all see what's happenin' here?  Everything's gone wrong and
y'all're tryin' to take it out on each other."  She sighed
and took a step into the hut, gazing at all three of them
they way a parent might gaze at three guilty children.  "Now,
Ah'll say one thing: it isn't over yet.  Sure, anythang
Sally says now can be held against her, but we cain't do
nothin' about that.  What we CAN do is tell her the first
time she and Sugar-hog are apart."
     The three freedom fighters nodded simultaneously.
     "As for Tails," she went on, "he'll be out like a light
until tomorrow mornin'."
     "Oh no, Bunnie, you didn't drug him, did you?"  Bookshire
asked worriedly.
     "'Course not!" she answered defensively.  "Ah just
gave him some warm powdered milk.  He's not the one to be
worryin' about right now, anyhow."
     "Well, do you have any suggestions?" Rotor asked.
     Bunnie scratched her head.  "We all know how Sonic can
be wrong sometimes, right?"
     Although all three smiled at that remark, Antoine was
the only one to respond.  "That ees more than an understatement,"
he chuckled.
     "Okay then," she continued, "all we have to do is convince
him that he's wrong."
     "But we don't know if he has evidence!" Bookshire reminded
them.
     "What evidence did we give him, Booker?"
     Bunnie had meant for the sentence to be a counter-statement;
instead, it made all of them, herself included, think very carefully
about the things they had said over the past two days.
     "Ant?" Bunnie asked.
     "I have said nothing to Sonic today, and I am believing
yesterday I was saying almost the same amount."
     "Rotor?"
     The walrus shook his head.  "I've been spending most of
my time monitoring the sensor readouts and making more sensors.
So far so good with that, I guess, but as for this situation..."
He sighed.  "I don't know."
     "Booker?"
     "I'm afraid I have a confession to make," he announced
bluntly.  "Every chain has its weak link, and I am that link."
Bunnie, good-hearted to the very last straw, was about to dis-
prove him when Bookshire cut her off prematurely with a raised
hand.  "Tails asked me yesterday about amnesia, and when I
tried to explain it to him, he said he'd rather ask Nicole.
Of course, when I gave Nicole to him, he went straight to Sonic
with her.  I think that's how this all started."
     The room was silent a moment while the freedom fighters
considered that.
     Then it was Bunnie's turn.  "Ah'm not sure if you've
thought about this before, Booker, but a chain can have more
than one weak link."  The two "weak links" stared at one another
for a few seconds.  "Ever since Ah got told of this deal, Ah
couldn't stop gigglin'.  It was so cute that Sal's doin' this,
and even funnier that Sonic didn't know about it."  As if
by fate, Bunnie began to giggle yet again.  "Well, you saw
'em yesterday mornin' Booker!  Aren't they cute?"
     Looking embarrassed, Bookshire cleared his throat.
"Yes, well...back to the subject at hand, we all know that
Sally is the backbone of this plot, and if there IS anything
that we can do to salvage it, then it'll have to wait until
we can talk to her alone.
     "Is there anyone who wants to quit now?"
     Not a single hand went up.
     All of the freedom fighters had excuses.  "Ah'm havin'
way too much fun!"  Bunnie nearly squealed.
     "Thees is all being so amusing to watch!"  Antoine
admitted.
     "It sure is relieving a lot of stress," Rotor said
hesitantly.  "Man, I haven't thought of old 'Botnik in at
least four days!"
     Bookshire was last.  And, unexpectedly, his explanation
was more grave than any of them would have anticipated.  "Sally
...well, not just her--everybody--gets hurt much too often.
We're always acting so seriously when that does happen, but
it's about time that we give it up.  We HAVE to expect that
people will get hurt in a war, or else there's no sense in 
fighting one.  When someone gets hurt, we should do what we
can to help the healing process...even if it means faking
another injury!"  He ended his brief monologue with a smile,
and sat down.  He didn't even know he had stood.
     "Wow, Booker, I didn't know you could be so...poetic!"
     After the silence that ensued, he continued.  "Well,
as long as we're on the matter of health, I say that we get
some sleep.  It won't do us any good if we can't think straight
come morning."
     That finished the meeting.  When morning came, they were
going to need all the help they could get.

                                 - - -

CHAPTER 12

     When it finally did come, it was Sonic who woke first.
He lay awake, with Sally curled up against his back, her arms
wrapped around his stomach, listening to the sound of the
rumbling thunder.  Not a drop of rain had fallen the night
before, which made the clouds even more full of water.  Through
the window, he could see that they were practically ready to
burst.  Yes, it was morning, but one not familiar with the
weather or without a sense of time would not have known it;
the sky was almost totally covered with clouds and so the sun
was completely blocked out.
     In the half-hour between the time when Sonic awoke and
when Sally awoke, he had plenty of time to think.  He almost
gave the charade up; Sally's comfortable touch and the warm
feel of her breath against his cheek were the most relentless
contenders, but the thought that she had started this and it
was his job to reverse her own trick eventually won and
defeated his conscience.  Hey, the way Sally was treating him
now was reason enough to want more of it!
     Somewhere, in the middle of the night, Sally'd apparently
had a dream.  It might have been a nightmare, but Sonic couldn't
tell.  She had whispered in her sleep, saying, "No, I didn't mean
it, you don't have to, please, don't, Sonic...I'm sorry, please,
come back...."  He had no idea what she'd been dreaming, but what-
ever it was it wasn't pretty.  Shortly after, he'd thought he felt
what might have been a raindrop on his neck, but the roof didn't
leak and, besides that, it wasn't raining.
     Sally had cried during her sleep.
     After her whispering had stopped, she'd had a briefly
conscious moment when she realized that Sonic was still there with
her.  She'd looked at him, and Sonic, aware of this, feigned
a snore.  She immediately held him tighter and fell back asleep.
     Now, as he ran the little information he had about the
dream, he considered the possibility that, in her dream, she
had watched Sonic go away.  And there was no method of going
away that was more final than death.
     Her chest pressing up against his back, Sonic felt Sally
stir and then yawn.  He had a sinking feeling, one of minor
dereliction, when her hands left the embrace of his stomach.
But after she had rubbed her eyes, she put them back, and Sonic
instantly felt like an infant that has had the bottle yanked from
its mouth and then replaced.
     "So how long have you been up?" she asked groggily.
     "Couple minutes," he said casually.  "Did you sleep well?"
     Sally seemed to remember something.  It could have only
been from her dream.  But she quickly hid it, wiping the worried
expression from her face.  "Fine," she answered simply.
     "You hungry?"
     "Not really.  The rations we had on the tour were more than
enough to fill me up."
     "But that was yesterday afternoon!" he protested.  "You sure?"
     "Yeah.  I'm not that hungry, anyway.  You okay?"
     Sonic had been putting on an expression that not even
Nicole could have misconstrued.  One of utter worry and desperation.
"I've been thinking," he said quietly.  He turned on his side
so that he faced Sally.  "I just..."
     "What?"
     "I just don't know how long I can go like this."  He sighed.
Sally looked concerned; that meant everything was going well.  She
was also silent; that meant she expected him to continue.  "I
mean...when can we get back to living how we normally did?"
     "Oh?"  Now she looked interested.  "How's that?"
     For a wonder, Sonic was able to hold back his blushing
when he said his next line:  "Well, we're lovers."
     Sally's expression was just as he had expected it to be.
And it was worth every planned minute!  After a time, she found
her voice.  "Oh.  OH," she said, understanding what the statement
"We're lovers" would encompass: everything.  She was silent;
she'd never thought he'd say something like that, so explicit,
though it was that type of line that she'd been waiting for.
     "I'm sure you wouldn't feel comfortable until you can
remember everything," he suggested.
     "No, I guess not," she admitted.
     "That's cool," Sonic sighed, saying the words as if they
were the exact opposite of what he meant.  Suddenly, he sat
upright and got out of the bed.  "I'M hungry.  I haven't eaten
in two days.  Wanna come with?"
     Sally shook her head.  "I've got some thinking to do."
     Without another attempt, Sonic left.  Later, after breakfast,
he decided that it wasn't as easy as one would think to eat nearly
a dozen chili dogs with a smile that almost touched his ears.

                                 - - -

CHAPTER 13

     The instant that Bunnie Rabbot saw Sonic exit the hut,
she rushed to Sally as fast as her robotic legs would carry
her.  She made sure that he was happily eating chili dogs
with Tails before she confronted her with the bad news:
"Sally-girl, Sonic knows!"
     The blunt phrase left Sally with little time to react,
and even less time to think about it.  "What?  How?"
     "That's not important," she said quickly, catching her
breath.  "What IS important is that he's known since last night!"
     Suddenly, everything that Sonic had said recently came
back to her with astonishing speed.  "Why, that little..."
     "Save it, Sally-girl.  We've got to figure out a way
to keep this up."
     Sally looked at her friend disbelievingly.  "What do you
mean?  It's over!  He found out!"
     "But..." Bunnie looked greatly disappointed.  "Ain't there
some way to...?"
     "No!"
     "Awww!" Bunnie said angrily.  "Now--"
     "Wait, maybe there is a way," she interrupted Bunnie.  "Sonic
knows, but now I KNOW that he knows.  Right?"
     "Huh?  You lost me somewhere back there."
     "I guess it isn't over yet," Sally said hesitantly.  "If
you really wanna keep this going...."
     "Yes!"
     "Oh, why not," Sally gave in with a smile.  "I've already
dug myself deeper than I thought.  Why not go a little deeper?"
     Tails approached at that moment, releasing a hearty belch
from his portion of chili dogs he'd eaten for breakfast.  He
made no movement or gesture to excuse himself, but neither of
the girls were thinking anywhere along the lines of punishment
to reprimand him.  "Whatcha talkin' 'bout?" he asked.
     Sally and Bunnie exchanged a glance, as if to discuss
whether or not to let Tails in on the joke.  The agreement
was mutual, but Bunnie made it official.  "We're playing a
trick on Sonic, sugar.  Wanna help?"
     Tails looked overly excited.  If she didn't know
any better, Sally would have guessed he was being sarcastic.
"Whoa!  A trick on Sonic! Yeah, I'd like to help!  What is
it?"  He tapped his foot on the ground twice, as if in
imitation of his role model.
     "Sally-girl don't really have amnesia!"
     Bunnie saw disbelief in Tails' demeanor.  "Is that true,
Aunt Sally?"
     "Afraid so, Tails."
     The orange fox folded his arms across his chest.  "Prove
it," he said coldly.
     "How?"
     "Well...how about telling me who my parents are?"
     "But, sugar--"
     "Quiet, Aunt Bunnie.  I'm asking Sally."
     "That's an easy one, Tails," Sally said easily, shrugging.
"We don't know."
     "Good answer," Tails smiled, dissolving the hard-edged
attitude and tapping his foot on the ground twice more.
     "Now," Bunnie explained, "Sonic already knows about it, so--"
     "What?"
     "He already--"
     Tails shook his head, slowly and gravely.  "He doesn't know.
"Yes," he added, responding to their unanswered question, "I'm
pretty sure."
     The two girls exchanged another glance.
     "And," Tails exclaimed slyly.  "I already knew about the
trick."  Without another word, he took off his right shoe and
pulled out Nicole.  She had been placed inside by Tails a few
minutes before.  "Nicole, playback."
     "SURE THING, MILES."  Tails frowned.  Then, Sally heard
a recording of the conversation earlier.  "...WE'RE PLAYING A TRICK
ON SONIC, SUGAR...SALLY-GIRL DON'T REALLY HAVE AMNESIA!...AFRAID
SO, TAILS."
     "I got all the evidence right here," Tails said with
a satisfied tone.  "Nicole, delete that recording."
     "OKAY, MILES."
     "Well, now that I'm on your side, I think that Sonic
left a message for you, Aunt Sally.  Nicole won't let me read
it."
     Slowly, he handed Nicole to Sally.  Her mouth had dropped
at Tails' clandestine antics.  He had never been the type to
keep secrets from anyone, and he never dealt behind others' backs.
Tails was honest; anyone who would have told her otherwise three
seconds ago would have been believed totally.  Maybe it was
the fact that everyone else was lying that got Tails to join
in.  "Nicole, play any messages left by Sonic in the past thirty
minutes."
     "I CANNOT DO THAT, SAL.  OTHER ENTITIES MUST BE OUT OF
AUDIBLE DISTANCE."
     "Ah guess that means Ah'm leaving," Bunnie said morosely.
"C'mon, Tails.  Let's go see if we can get Antoine to lift a
finger."
     "Now THAT's an eternal struggle if I've ever seen one!"
Tails remarked, and then he and Bunnie were gone.
     "Now, Nicole?" Sally asked.
     "MESSAGE IS AS FOLLOWS," Nicole said promptly.  Sally
then heard a message that would haunt her for the rest of her
life:
     "Sally, ever since I laid my hedgehog eyes upon you, I
fell in love.  Even before I knew what love meant, I felt it
whenever I saw you.  When we kissed for the first time, it
was as if all of Mobius didn't matter.  I know you can't
remember any of this, and I don't blame you; I blame myself.
If I was a better climber, I might have caught you before you
could fall.  But...I didn't.  And now you may never recover.
I'm so sorry, Sal, but I will never be able to live without
the TRUE Sally in my life, and therefore there is no reason
to try.  Goodbye, my princess."
     Before she had heard the end of Sonic's second sentence,
Sally's eyes were misty.  By the time he was finished, not only
was Sally in tears but one standing under her might have guessed
that it had finally begun to rain.
     She didn't know what to do.
     So she screamed.

                                 - - -

CHAPTER 14

     It came out as a whimper.
     The sound, when Sally had let it out, was too high-pitched
to be heard by anything or anyone living.  She didn't remember
the next few minutes clearly, but she knew that she was crying
deeply, for a long time.  Bunnie eventually came back, and was
stunned by the sight of her.  When Sally recognized her presence,
out of disbelief or terror, she screeched, "Find Sonic!  He's
going to--"
     "Cool down, Sally-girl!  What's the matter?  Sonic's right
over--"
     "WHERE!?"  Her tone was raw and urgent.
     "At the power ring pool," she answered calmly.  "He's been
standin' there, lookin' as if he was gonna jump in or something.
Hasn't moved for awhile."
     Sally was on her feet and running before Bunnie could get
half the words out of her mouth.  Horribly, before she could get
there, Sally saw Sonic let himself fall limply into the pool.
     "SONIC!"
     In the next dozen strides, Sally remembered more of their
lives together than she ever had before.  And all of it, everything
they had ever gone through, all of the years of friendship, was
being lost because of one little insignificant joke.
     Princess Sally Acorn had made the biggest mistake of her
life.
     Adrenaline flowed through her body as she dived in after
Sonic.  She had watched where he fell in and entered in the same
general area.  She swam down, through the depths, searching for
any moving form.  Finally, she saw a single blur of white sinking.
She grabbed it, overwhelmed to find that it was Sonic's glove
and that he was attached to it.  Fighting, struggling against
the doubled weight, Sally made her way to the surface with Sonic
in tow.
     Her hand broke the surface and grabbed the bank, but it was
too slippery.  She tried again, and failed for the second time.
She was about to think that it would be impossible to haul both
her and Sonic onto dry land when something grabbed her hand and
yanked them upward.
     Later Bunnie told her that all four of them--Bunnie,
Antoine, Tails and Bookshire--had pulled them up.  No other
way would have been possible.  Three or Four dry Mobians
usually equalled the weight of two wet ones, due to the
fact that water added an enormous amount of weight to fur.
     Before Sally had time to catch her breath she was
screaming, "Sonic!  Wake up!  Come on, SONIC!"  She pressed
hard on his stomach and water fountained into the air.  She
repeated the process until, finally, Sonic began to cough.
     Sally was exhausted from both physical and emotional
exertion.  Half of her wanted to pass out and faint, but
the other half remained adamant in wanting to make sure
Sonic was okay.
     His eyes opened.  "Sally?"
     "Yes."  She didn't know what else to say.
     "You're such a slow-mo," he complained, and coughed up
some more water.
     "I...uh...have a confession to make, Sonic."
     "Really?" Sonic asked.  He had been lying on his back
but now he sat upright swiftly, pushing himself up on his
hands.
     "Yes.  Well, actually, I have two.  Sonic..." she
said slowly, "this was all just a trick."
     The other freedom fighters, standing well away from
the two, kept silent in their guilt.
     "But..." Sonic's single word seemed to sum up all
his disbelief, and yet he continued.  "How'd you get that
gash on your forehead?"
     "Oh, it's not fake, if that's what you're thinking,"
Sally assured him.  "When I fell, my life flashed before my
eyes, only it was like Nicole would have seen it: with all
the dates before the events.  When I knew I would survive
that fall, I noticed that day's date."
     "Oh?  And what was it?"
     Bunnie giggled in the background.  "What, nobody around
here keeps track of that?"
     Sally said, very softly, "It was April the first.  April
Fool's day."  She gave Sonic time to soak that in.  Overhead,
thunder rumbled for the first time in over an hour.  It sounded
fiercer than before.  "So I was in the perfect position to
start a trick.  I had proof of injury, and the rest I could
act out."
     "Yeah, you're a pretty good actor," Tails chimed in.
     "Actress," Sally corrected.
     "But what about..." Sonic began.  "Antoine and Rotor were
going to write letters!  Bookshire was going to spend all night
looking through his books and everything!  Man, everybody
wouldn't give up sleep just for THAT!"
     "We did not," Antoine agreed slyly.  "We DID write
the letters, but who was to be saying that we planned to
send them?"
     "And I DID look through all my references," Bookshire
admitted, "...well, 'glance' is a more appropriate word..."
     "So this was all a joke?"  Sonic began to laugh.  Of
course, he'd known since last night, but Sally nor any of the
others knew that.  He laughed harder.  "I almost killed myself!
You..."
     Sonic's voice trailed off as Sally hung her head.  The
other freedom fighters decided that the rest of the conver-
sation was not for their ears and went back to Knothole.
Sally began to cry again.  Even if they were both dry, Sonic
would have known it without having to see the tears.  "Sonic...
I know you'll never forgive me for this...I'm so sorry..."
     Sonic slid over closer to where Sally was sitting, but
she turned away.  "I don't deserve a hug," she sobbed miserably,
"I don't deserve you, I don't deserve friends...I don't deserve
anything!"
     "Oh, Sal..."  Without having been given permission to
hug her, Sonic ignored his instincts to sit there, doing nothing,
and forcefully turned her around and held her tight.  She
stayed like this, crying into open arms, for what seemed to
both of them like an eternity but was actually minutes.
     "I have..."
     "Take your time Sal," he soothed, stroking her hair.
"I'm not going anywhere."
     "I have...to do something...before I lose my chance."
With that, she withdrew from the embrace and looked at Sonic
straight in the eye.  She made no attempt to dry her eyes.
Their faces were so close...
     Sonic knew what Sally wanted; he wanted it too.
     As if by a magnet of mutual force, their faces drew
closer.  Their lips drew so close that if either of them
had said anything at that moment, the simple oral movement
would have made their furs touch.  It was going to happen....
     "Sonic!  Sally!  Get out here NOW!"
     
                                 - - -

CHAPTER 15

     Rotor's voice.
     Carefully resisting the reflex to swear, Sonic and Sally
rushed to see what was the matter.  They were met halfway by
the walrus, who wore a mixed expression of sorrow and panic
on his face.  "We have to get to the sensor!" he shouted above
the thunder.  "I'll explain on the way!"
     They wasted no time asking questions.  As they ran they
saw that Bunnie and Tails were already on their way, crashing
through the brush and past trees.  They ran.  At the same
time, Rotor explained, forcing Sonic to slow his pace, at least
until he heard what he had to do.  "I just got a message from
Uncle Chuck!" he panted.  "He says he noticed something metal
atop a very tall tree.  It's been attracting a good deal of
attention from Robotnik, and he's finally sent five or six
SWATbots to investigate it.  We have to get it down, and FAST!"
     "That's it?" Sonic asked.  "Man, what a piece of cake!"
     With that, he was out of sight, plunging and tearing his
way through the forest.  Sally had no time to point out that
he wasn't a good climber, and Rotor had no time to point out
that the SWATbots could arrive any minute.  He also had
no time to point out that the sensor was an excellent conductor
of electricity, and that there was a storm present.
     Sonic reached the tree and began climbing.  He hadn't
thought about this part until now.  But there was no sense in
quitting now, was there?  Hand over hand, foot over foot,
branch over branch, he got halfway.  Then, looking over his
shoulder at the distance he had climbed, he noticed six
SWATbots positioning themselves around the tree.
     "Faster," he said to himself, and obeyed.  The lightning
in the dark sky over head was furious by the time he reached the
top, and he cringed from the light and sound intermittently.
He saw the sensor, a metal round ball about the size of his
fist, nestled between two of the topmost branches.  "How
could anyone have noticed this," he thought, "especially
Buttnik?"  Grabbing it, his quills stood up on end.  Experi-
mentally, he put it back.  His quills still stood.
     That meant lightning was about to strike.
     But where could he go?
     He was fifty or sixty feet above the ground, he
was surrounded by SWATbots so that even if he DID survive
the jump, he'd be too injured NOT to surrender.  And
on top of all that, he was about to be struck by lightning.
     He began to hear a crackling sound, overhead, rising
in intensity....
     Suddenly, the SWATbots started demolishing the tree
with their blasters the tree lurched, and Sonic lost his
balance.  He fell.
     It was a race between the ground, Sonic, the
lightning...and one other factor: Sally.  Before
Sonic had time to realize that three of the SWATbots
had been destroyed by her and Bunnie, he felt her
grip around his ankle.  The first thing he noticed
was that Sally had saved his life; the second thing was
that she was stronger than he thought; the third thing
was that this exact same scene had happened two days
ago, with their roles reversed.
     Lightning ripped down from heaven and tore the
great tree in half, setting it on fire.  Sonic and Sally
both fell.  The hedgehog broke his right leg instantly.
Sally, falling on her chest, broke two ribs.  Of course
neither of them knew this; all they knew was that there
was pain.
     The remaining three SWATbots were overloaded with
electrical discharge from the lightning, and exploded.  Bunnie,
who was about to lunge for one of them, was thrown backward.
Flaming shards littered the ground, adding to the small
conflagration that was steadily growing.
     Sonic tried to stand up and fell back to the ground,
writhing in pain and holding his leg; it was badly twisted
and deformed.  Instead, he crawled to the sensor and picked
it up.  He smashed it into the base of the tree.  He then
crawled back to Sally.  She had been again knocked out
of consciousness. To his surprise, he saw Tails float down.
"You guys okay?"
     Before he could answer, he heard another groaning crack.
But it wasn't thunder.
     It was the tree.  Falling.
     "I can't take both of you," Tails got to the point.
     "Take Sally."
     "But..."
     "Just do it!"
     Another snap, from the base of the trunk.  Tails got
his grip on Sally and began to lift her.  What happened next
was nearly unbelievable: she jerked out of unconsciousness
and grabbed a root, anchoring her.  She wasn't going to
let Tails take her away.  She did not even need to say
so.
     "Get out of here, big guy!"
     Taking a long, solemn look at his two friends, Tails
flew up and out of danger.
     Sonic and Sally were surrounded by fire; there was
no way out even if they did have enough energy to struggle
to their feet.  "This may be the end," their shared gaze
said silently.  They both knew it.  This time, there was
little or no hesitation: their lips were touching before
either of them knew what their instincts had led them to do.
The moment seemed infinite; Sally put her arms around
Sonic's back and brought him down on top of her.  Sonic
was glad that neither of them were able to stand, as the
kiss stretched on.
     Rain fell.
     So did the tree.
     But neither of them cared.  Love, they knew, would
follow them into eternity.

                                 - - -

CHAPTER 16

     Tails' energy left him and he sank to the ground next
to Bunnie and Rotor.  Bunnie immediately shrieked, "Where are
they!?"  She'd seen the mammoth tree fall and wondered if they'd
been anywhere near it.  "WHERE!?"
     Tails simply shook his head, and began to cry.  Bunnie
scooped him up and cradled him in her arms as her gaze met
Rotor's.  Neither of them knew what to say.  Instead, they
watched as the rain slowly extinguished the fire.  They
stayed there for more than a minute, getting their furs
soaked.  During that minute, Bookshire and Antoine arrived
and were alerted of the news.  They all watched, from a
distance, the "vanishing point," so to speak, of the two
greatest Mobians the planet had ever seen.
     As they were about to turn away and leave, they heard
a rustling sound from under the tree.  Bunnie, hope instantly
flowing through her, rushed to the scene.  There, Sonic
and Sally were emerging, from between the two wooden halves.
In the confusion of the moment, all of them had forgotten that
the tree had been split in half.
     They were carried back to Knothole, Sonic by Tails
and Rotor, and Sally by Antoine and Bunnie.  Bookshire Draft-
wood led the way, giving instructions on keeping them inert.
The whole way, Sonic and Sally were hand in hand.

                                 - - -

EPILOGUE


     A few weeks later, Sonic's leg was healing nicely.
Sally's ribs were doing well, but they rendered her
torso nearly immovable.  One evening, looking at the
stars and reminiscing on the recent event, Sonic finally
confessed.  "Sal...I have to tell you something, but
you'll probably kill me for it."
     "Oh, really?"
     "Yeah."  Sonic took his time and chose his words
carefully.  "I knew you were faking it ever since the
second day.
     "I FAKED suicide."
     "What!?" she exclaimed.  She tried to sit up in her
bed but the pain told her otherwise.  She lay back down,
but did not give up.  "So you DID know!"
     "Yeah, and Tails was on my side the whole time!"
     "He said he was on OUR side!"
     "Well, he's a good actor.  Better than I thought."
     "Tell me about it!" Sally said sarcastically.  Well,
I guess I also have a confession to make.  When I saw you
jump in, I was more sorry than I ever was in my whole life.
I couldn't believe then that'd I'd driven you to suicide
by a meaningless joke....And I made myself promise that
I'd never do something like that again."
     "Well you don't have to worry," Sonic said wryly.
"I already paid you back."
     "Yeah," she said, and let out a small laugh.  It
completely lacked humor.  "I needed to be taught a lesson...
I guess the best lesson was taking my own medicine."
     "Sally?"
     "Yes, Sonic?"
     "I'm WAY sorry for freaking you out."  He sighed.
"I was almost sure that message sounded worse than fake,
but..."
     "I wasn't listening for veracity," Sally reminded
him.  "All I knew was that it was you who left that message,
and if you did..." She trailed off.
     "Yes?"
     "...If you DID die, I wouldn't have been able to live
with myself."
     "What are you saying?"
     "If you went under, I was going to follow you."
     "Oh.  OH!"  Sonic realized what she was saying.  "But
you're royalty, Sal!  You can't just die because someone
else does!  I mean...someday, when we finally kick Robuttnik
of your throne, YOU have to be the one to sit on it!"
     "I know."
     "But..."
     "Sonic."
     "What?"
     "I love you too much to go on without you."  The phrase
was as blunt as Sally could possibly be.  It left Sonic's face
as red as the sneakers he wore.  "Aww, Sal...I, uh...reciprocate
that love."
     At how Sonic had responded, she didn't display the reaction
that he was hoping for.  Instead, she said accusingly, "You've
been hanging around Nicole too much!"
     They both laughed, an action that hurt Sally's chest
immensely, but somehow it still felt good.  "Do you, uh...
think we should tell the others?"
     "About what?"
     "About...US."
     Sonic thought about that for a moment, then shook his
head vigorously.  "No," he said firmly.  "Besides, we wouldn't
want to get Nicole jealous now, would we?"
     And so it was.
     But sometimes, as the two walked a little to closely to
each other, side by side, and sometimes holding hands, Bunnie
watched with an intent curiosity and began to giggle.

THE END