The audience cheered and applauded as the last performers finished their number. Everyone came on stage to bow, and then trekked to a back room where the cast could converse with the visitors. Only I didn’t come down. I changed my clothes, removed my makeup, set everything down nicely for the next night, then resolved to exit through a back door. Hopefully Sonic would find me so we could go home. I was just about out of the hallway and reached the door, before I heard:

“Luana!” 

I paused. It wasn’t Sonic. I didn’t turn around initially. 

“There you are! I was worried about you!” My mother exclaimed, “What happened?”

“What are you playing at?”

Mother was surprised. 

“What?”

I whirled around.

“What are you trying to do? What did you expect when you came to Lorhen County?” I demanded.

“I came to see you, dear!” Mother answered, “I hadn’t seen you in a while, so I thought I’d drop by.”

“‘A while’…” I echoed, “So ten years count as ‘a while’, eh?” 

“What are you talking about, Luana?” 

I scoffed. “Are you seriously in that much denial?”

“Luana-”

“Do you know what happened when Grandpappy died? Do you know what I went through!?”

Mrs. Dockinson didn’t respond.

    “Grandpappy named me Executive of his Estate. I had to go through all his finances while grieving alone! Where were you? You showed up at his funeral for one hour, then left! I had Grandpappy to support me in everything; and now, I had to do everything alone! So excuse me if I’m not too happy about you being here!”

There was silence. Just then, I spotted Sonic a few feet behind my mother. He froze, dumbfounded. I straightened.

    “I’m sorry, but you can’t stay through Christmas. You need to think about finding another place to go.”

The wind howled in my ears as I dashed through the Green Hills. The sun was shining and the air was cool. I could hear music in the distance. I stopped when I entered a forest grove. There was a pink house, dug into a particularly big hill, with bright flowers in the troughs below the windows. Out stepped a pink hedgehog, glowing green eyes with a sparkling red dress. 

“Amy?” I asked.

She looked at me and grinned.

“Welcome home, Sonic!” 

“You’re…you’re okay?” I gasped.

She beamed.

“Of course I am! I’m always safe with you around!” 

“Hey Sonic!” 

I turned around to see a yellow fox with two tails descending from the sky and landing on the ground. 

“Tails! You’re okay too!”

“Never been better!” The fox exclaimed.

Amy-Rose gestured us to the house.

“Come on, everyone else is already here!” 

Amy turned the knob and opened the door. 

Tails and I were about to follow her inside, when suddenly, the sky grew dark. The air smelt like fire and ash. Black clouds blocked out the sun and thunder began to rumble. 

“Sonic…?” Amy asked, uncertainly. 

I realized what was happening.

“Tails, we got to get everyone off the island, now!” I exclaimed.

Suddenly, a meteorite struck the ground barely two feet from us and sent us flying backwards.

“SONIC!” I heard Amy’s voice echo and shriek.

I scrambled up to see Amy’s house lit aflame, and instantly collapsed.

“AMY!” I screamed. 

Meteorites continued to fall from the sky. 

“Sonic, what do we do!?” Tails cried.

I suddenly felt unable to move. I tried to run but my legs were glued to the ground. I panicked. I looked down. Metal bracers were clasped around my hands, and the lights flashed red.

“What!?” I cried.

I heard loud, muffled voices echoing, piercing my ears. I turned to Tails, whose eyes widened with distress.

“I…I can’t…I can’t move…!”

Then, Tails’ expression grew hollow, and the sound went quiet.

“Sonic, why couldn’t you help us?” He asked.

There was another explosion. This time, it landed right over top of him.

“TAILS!” 

“TAILS!”

There was a loud crash. I jumped out of bed. It was coming from downstairs.

“Sonic…” 

 I dashed to the stairway and flew down. I was horrified to see one of the living room windows had broken, and glass shards were all over the room. The cold air gusted in. There were bright flashes of light coming from outside. That moment I heard my mother coming down the stairs.

“What in the world is that!? What’s going on!?” She exclaimed.

I ignored her. I unlocked the front door and dashed outside. 

There was Sonic, belly-down on the ground, lightning sprawling from him and shooting in all directions. His eyes were shot with terror, and violently shaking. 

“Sonic!” 

I fell to my knees and grabbed him. The electricity shot through my veins, causing my hands to lock together. But I didn’t care. 

“I…I-It’s okay…!” I stammered, as calmly as I could.

The electrical currents stopped. I gasped for breath. I felt all the energy in me zapped out. He was still shaking, and starting babbling incoherently. 

“It’s okay, it’s alright, I’m here,” I cooed, “I’m here…Just breathe…”

I pulled him into my lap and began to rock gently. Static pricked, but I held him close. I stroked his quills tenderly. I began singing softly in his ear.

“In winter, Fire is beautiful, 

Beautiful like a song,

In winter, snow is beautiful,

All of the winter long,

But you, little son come safety home,

Riding the tail of the wind,

May you always come this safely home,

In winter, fire, and snow…”

The static electricity subsided. Sonic ceased babbling, and was quiet. 

I heard footsteps behind me. I glanced behind me to see my mother, mouth gaped open and eyes widened. 

“Luana…” 

I looked back down. I smiled, sadly.

“Sonic…Are you feeling better now?”

He didn’t respond for a moment, only scoring closer. Finally, he mumbled:

“Thank you…” 

“The story was real…” said my mother.

Carefully, I scooped Sonic up in my arms, and stood up. I could see the other side of the broken window. After scratching the back of Sonic’s ears, I breathed:

“I’m gonna need to call Ayanna’s friend to board that up…”