Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The streets of Station Square were buzzling with people going about their lives, seemingly without a care in the world. Mothers were pushing packed strollers, fathers were holding hands with their children, elderly couples were heading home after buying groceries. The wind carried the smell of salty beach water and popcorn throughout the city. From the nearby amusement park echoed a myriad of screams and cries as the rollercoaster made another lap of loops and twists before finally stopping. The mechanical instruments of trumpets and drums from the large Ferris wheel could be just about made out if listened very carefully.

“ Look, there it is, Miss Amy! That’s the café I was telling you about.” Cream the Rabbit explained as she pointed across the street to a tall building. It stood a bit crooked between two other structures, on one side it was attached to a terracotta-coloured apartment building, and on the other side was a narrow alleyway between the coffee shop and an abandoned complex, previously housing students. Now its hollow corpse remained boarded up and dark, awaiting for the inevitable demise of being either completely remodelled or possibly torn down.

“ Station Square Theatre Café? Huh, I’ve never heard of this place.” Amy Rose read the sign aloud and placed her hands on her hips. From the outside it looked rather unassuming and even somewhat vacant, if not for the large potted plants placed on either side of the small doorway and the sign hanging from the window reading ‘We’re open’. “But I guess we have no other places to go. I say we check it out and see what it’s all about!”

“ Yes! I’m certain you’re going to love it, miss Amy.”

“ Chao, chao!” Cheese excitedly chirped and flew to follow along. Cream smiled at the little blue chao as it landed onto her head.

They crossed the street and passed a sidewalk sign advertising some new limited-edition, once in a lifetime doughnut-and-drink combo deal, which looked quite good. The circular pastry seemed to have been smothered with black icing, lines of white crossed it in no particular order. The drink was a rich red and attractively cold looking, especially on a hot day like this. It must have been themed with the new Dracula movie coming later that month, because the text on top read ‘Fang-tastic deals this month only.’

Amy opened the heavy glass door, a bell chimed once to announce their arrival to the staff. The inside wasn’t crowded, which was surprising seeing as everywhere else was practically packed full. Even their favourite ice cream place had been slammed, the line of impatient customers had weaved around the store and spilled out onto the streets.

It was a beautiful and sunny day, so there were bound to be families and couples out and about, but the girls hadn’t been able to find a seat anywhere. The beaches, parks, restaurants and even the free seating areas at the mall were all taken. In desperation they had wandered aimlessly around for what felt like hours, until Cream suddenly remembered a place they had yet to visit. A mysterious café tucked away right behind the park and across from a small fish market.

They stepped inside and stared, Cream with an expecting smile and Amy with her mouth agape. The décor was unlike anything the hedgehog had ever seen, and she had seen her fair share of odd and unique things. The walls were bare of any sort of paint or wallpaper but instead showed exposed red bricks and wood. On the left wall, next to the two bathroom doors were a dozen gold picture frames. There were posters of performances, yellowed news clippings, photographs of people in full theatre gear and odd scribbles that looked suspiciously like autographs. On the right side of the room was a small wooden stage framed by red cloth, distinctly in the style of theatre curtains with golden ropes. The floors had a whimsical wide chequerboard pattern of white and black, both tiles possessing swirls which made them appear like expensive marble.

As the girls headed for the counter directly opposite to the entrance, they inspected the posters closer. There were both simplistic yet dramatic hand drawn pictures, and real photographs with so much detail one would have to stare for far longer than comfortable to take it all in. Les Misérables, Hamlet, A star is born, West side story, Romeo and Juliet, The sound of music, Phantom of the opera, To kill a mockingbird… To her dismay, Amy could only recognise some of them and Cream even less so, but nonetheless they were all gorgeous.

Scattered across the room were little round tables, of which only three were currently occupied. The other six or so were empty, so they had plenty of which to choose.

The younger girl let out a sudden gasp and rushed towards the counter, her chao hot behind her heel.

“ Mother, mother!”

Behind the till a tall woman rabbit raised her head, her brown bangs tastefully pinned down so they wouldn’t impede her work.

“ Cream, my dear! What are you doing here?” She wiped her hands onto the white apron on top of her long purple dress and walked to greet her daughter. She hugged her gently, patting her on the head like she always did, before glancing up. “Ah, Amy, you’re here too! It’s good to see you darling, how have you been? It’s been such a long time since you last came over to our house.”

“ Good day Miss Vanilla. I’ve been very good, thank you, but I don’t think a week is that long of a time.” The pink hedgehog smiled as she too received a motherly hug. “I didn’t know you worked here. What happened to the flower shop?”

“ This is a fairly new thing, I’ve only been here for a few months.” The woman waved her arm dismissively. “The flower shop just didn’t have enough business, so they had to let some of us go. I’m lucky to have found something else so quickly.”

Amy looked between the stage and the tables as she gestured around. “Where did you even find this place? I’ve never heard of it before, so it must be new. And what does a café have to do with theatres?”

“ Honestly, it was pure coincidence, I just happened to be at a right place at a right time.” Vanilla smiled warmly. “The purpose of this café is to offer a theatre themed experience, dear. We provide live music and acts for the customers. It’s a concept originating from France.” She turned to the stage where three people sat, softly playing their chosen instruments. The older girl hadn’t noticed them when first coming in, most likely assuming the music came from hidden speakers on the ceiling. “Our entertainment is usually provided by the Station Square Youth Theatre Group or the Esteemed Opera House. They stop by on weekends to practise, some sing, some dance, some put on entire plays… But enough about this place, what have you been doing since I last saw you?“

“ I’ve been busy perfecting my blueberry pie recipe. If you’d like I could bring a piece over for you to taste. I’d love some feedback on my cooking.”

“ Oh, that would be lovely.” Vanilla clapped her hands together in delight. “Now, would you like to order something? All you see is made here in house. Currently we have an offer on the Count Doughnut deal and the lunch sandwiches.”

The two youngsters began to skim through every single item inside the bakery display. There were European style pastries dusted with powdered sugar, perfectly round, pink and green crusted melon breads, little slices of different cakes, trays of mochi and icing decorated cookies. On the side were three metal tins with ice cream, most likely strawberry, vanilla and matcha flavoured. The blackboard on the wall was filled with chalk written drinks of all sizes and types. Somebody had taken the extra time to draw little flowers onto the corners.

Amy found the names of some of the items downright hilarious, even if she couldn’t understand the references. Especially the Jellicle jelly, Nutcracker’s peanut bread and Mary cakepoppins.

“ Ahh! I can’t decide, you pick Miss Amy. Otherwise I’m going to get one of each.” Cream placed her hands onto her cheeks. The sheer number of beautiful sweets was much too overwhelming.

“ Chao.” Cheese too agreed. Amy smiled at their antics but turned to order. 

“ We’ll take a piece of strawberry shortcake, a piece of carrot cake, a pistachio and sakura miraculous-macaron, a cup of magical mister matcha and a hot chocolate, please.” She dug around her wallet and placed coins onto a little tray on the counter.

“ Alright, your drinks will take a while to prepare, so I’ll just bring everything to the table.”

“ Thank you.” They both gave a slight bow in thanks and went to sit down. The little rabbit rushed to a table near one of the windows, long ears bobbing up and down. She sat onto one of the cushioned chairs, opened her bright orange backpack and pulled out a green notebook.

“ Where should we start with the planning?” She flipped to an empty page, other hand holding up a pen in preparation for writing. 

“ Hmm…” Amy mused, one finger tapping on her chin. “We have decided on a date, right? We’ll celebrate my eighteenth birthday in exactly one month’s time. I’m going to make the decorations myself, I was thinking of something like pink and white buntings and balloons. Maybe even a touch of gold or silver? Some flowers at the cake table would be nice.”

“ Oh, oh! How about sunflowers? I’m certain they would look lovely next to the desserts.”

“ I don’t think they’ll be on season yet. We might have to think of some other flowers.” Rose shook her head. “Or we could buy fake flowers from the local craft store. That might even be cheaper.”

“ Can I do the flower arrangements? If we go with the yellow sunflowers, they would pair up beautifully with some daisies and roses.” Cream rushed to write something down with big letters.

“ Of course you can! You have a good eye for this stuff.” Amy looked at where the windows were, staring at her reflection with sudden worry. “I just don’t know where I’m going to find a space large enough to have all the guests in, my house is definitely too small.”

“ What about our house?” Cream suggested while Cheese played with the decorative plant in the middle of the table. “If it’s about you, I’m certain my mother would love to host our friends.”

“ As good as that sounds, I couldn’t possibly invite so many people to your house. That would be a huge burden, and I don’t want to do that to Vanilla. She has enough going on as it is.”

“ What if…” The rabbit pondered for a bit before turning to face the other. “What if you borrowed a place? That’s something you can do, right?”

“ I… Hadn’t thought of that. Reserving an entire space from somewhere… That’s a great idea Cream! But it needs to be affordable, like, budget friendly!” Amy glanced at her concerningly skinny wallet, knowing very well that after rent, groceries and bills, there wouldn’t be much left. Luckily, she had begun to save up for important things, on her kitchen counter sat a sizable glass jar which now held a large amount of loose change and crumpled bills. They would be able to cover something modest, or so she hoped.

“ Goodness! Are you two planning your birthday party already?” Vanilla asked, coming to them with a large metallic tray. She began to set the cups and plates down, one by one, until the tray was empty and the table was filled with goods.

“ We’re trying to but, uh, you wouldn’t happen to know where I could rent out a place for the night for a reasonable price?” The hedgehog took her matcha and pulled it closer.  

“ A venue for a night, you say. Hmm, how many guests are we talking about in total?”

“ Something like, umm… Let’s say between ten and fifteen people.”

“ Then, in that case, why not have the party here. I’m certain my boss wouldn’t mind renting out at a reasonable price.” The woman winked. “I’ll go talk to him. Enjoy your sweets but don’t eat too fast. We wouldn’t want you getting a stomach-ache now, would we?”

“ We won’t mother!” Her daughter assured as they dug in. The macaron was given to the waiting chao who began to happily munch on it. “What about the food? Are you going to make it all yourself like last year?”

“ That’s the plan. I can’t afford to order catering.”

“ I’m sure it will be perfect, Miss Amy.” Cream wrote something on the other corner of the page. “The lemon cupcakes were a big hit last year. Were you planning on making those or something else?”

“ Now that you mentioned it, how about a dozen of those cupcakes, and another dozen of ones that are a different flavour? Maybe chocolate? And let’s not forget the birthday cake itself! It’ll be a strawberry shortcake.”

“ So two dozen cupcakes and a large cake. Oh, I can’t wait!”

“ Amy,” Vanilla called, and the girls turned. “This is the owner, Toby the Tabby. I told him about your wish to reserve the café for a night.” She explained and settled a hand on top of Amy’s shoulder.

“ Good morning! My name is Amy Rose–.”

“ Yes, yes, pleasantries, pleasantries.” The feline said, sounding uninterested as he went through the papers on his clipboard. He was an elderly male, you could see it from the way his once luscious and shiny fur was now painted by a dull shade of grey with uneven streaks of black. He took a pair of round glasses off of his nose and began to polish them with the hem of his blue shirt. “Look, I’d be happy to rent my establishment out for a night if your intentions are serious, but we must discuss prices beforehand. I don’t trust you youngsters, so there will be a small deposit. And before we come to an agreement, I need to know what exactly it is that you require. What sort of services, menu items, what type of entertainment, how many waiters…”

“ Oh, no, no, no! I don’t need anything but the space. No waiters, no food, no DJ, no services what-so-ever!” She raised her hands and shook her head. “Well, I do need tables, but I will be making the desserts myself.”

“ Hm, hm.” The man pulled out a small calculator and began to type. “That would be, yes- and the cost of electricity, the lights, the refrigerator, then there’s the sound system, the cost of cleaning, hmm. We might need to close early, that entails lost revenue …” He pushed buttons furiously, and the more he pressed, the less confident Amy Rose felt about the whole idea. She was about to interject and say she would find another place when Vanilla squeezed her shoulder.

“ Actually, Mister Tabby, Amy here knows how to sing. Surely, she could offset some of those costs by performing, right? I have a feeling she might be the fresh air we here in this café need.”

“ V-Vanilla?! What are you saying, don’t tell him that!” Amy whispered, embarrassed.

“ Oh, it’s true mister! She and I sing karaoke at my house all the time, she’s really good!” Cream joined, and the pink hedgehog slumped down in defeat. She knew when a battle was lost.

“ Perform here? I guess if she was good enough, we could overlook some of the expenses. But only if she was worth it.” He eyed her up and down with a criticizing glare. She suddenly wished she had donned on her favourite dress instead of the sweater and shorts. “You know I trust your instincts, Miss Rabbit, but I simply must see it for myself before making a decision.” Mister Tabby motioned for the stage with a flick of his wrist. “See that mic over there? It’s free, kid. It should be for about an hour or so, the weekdays are always pretty empty from any performers. You have sixty minutes to show me what you’ve got and then we can proceed with the venue reservation.”

Rose swallowed, growing nervousness was beginning to close off her throat and the need to flee was slowly filling her veins. She side eyed the front door, the way out currently appeared mighty tempting. A bead of sweat ran down her forehead as she opened her mouth to decline.

“ I’ll…” She blinked. “I’ll do it now, right now, if that’s alright.”

The cat looked at her before pulling out a vacant chair and sitting down. He crossed his arms in a way dads show thinning patients.

“ Alright. Whenever you’re ready, miss.”

Amy stood up heart furiously hammering, the chair dragging against the ground annoyingly. Wobbly feet began to lead the pink hedgehog towards the stage, arms tugging at her coral shirt nervously. Her emerald eyes jumped from customer to customer, perhaps their timing had been perfect for this. It indeed was slow, the three tables occupied had mainly families and elderly people. And no-one seemed too mean, perhaps this would go over smoothly.

She hopped onto the stage and immediately almost tripped over a cord. No one gave her a second glance though, it felt both good and awful at the same time. The men on stage gave her small smiles but none of them said anything before returning their focus on the instruments. Her shaky fingers took the mic from the stand, but then instantly put it back, hands way too sweaty to hold it without the thing slipping and falling to the floor.

“ Um-uh, g-good morning. My n-name is Amy Rose, and I will be singing—,“ Oh no, she had no idea what to sing! She had been so focused with merely getting on stage without passing out she had completely forgotten to decide on a song. “-I will- uh… My song is-is-“ A little display box next to the door caught her eye. It held old tickets, pictures, a plastic prop rose, and most importantly a half mask. That’s when she knew what to sing.

“ My song is ‘Think of me’, from the Phantom of the Opera.”

The man on the piano shuffled some of his papers and then gave her an encouraging thumbs up. The music began, the delicate piano keys were slightly out of tune, but she couldn’t care less. Amy took a breath to calm her nerves before she began.

“ Think of me, think of me fondly, when we've said goodbye ~ “ Her eyes landed on the table with Cream and Vanilla. They both looked proud, something she hadn’t seen directed at her since the days of fighting Eggman. That was such a long time ago Amy had almost forgotten how good admiration felt like.

“ Remember me, once in a while, please promise me you'll try ~ “ Her voice gained confidence, like a baby bird gaining the sureness to fly, little by little. She took a step closer to the microphone and straightened her posture.

“ When you find that once again you long, to take your heart back and be free ~ “

Mister Tabby raised his gaze from his wristwatch, looking much less bored than previously. He uncrossed his arms and leaned forward as if really concentrating.

“ If you ever find a moment, spare a thought for me ~ “

Her voice rose like a magnificent phoenix from the ashes of once built dreams, carrying new hope and glory. She felt a tad lightheaded, the stage lights overhead were blinding, but her heart whispered for her to keep on going. The swanlike grace of a violin’s pure melody began to accompany the piano, and together with her singing, it was almost professional.

The song held no significance in her life whatsoever, and yet Amy found herself feeling a sort of loss as the lyrics left her lips. In her mind flashed her lively past, chasing somebody close to her heart, running from the evil, seeing the world almost get destroyed and then rebuilt. The excitement and fear mixed together into a nostalgia painted mess, which could draw even the dullest of images with new colour. Her life hadn’t been good, it hadn’t been safe or secure, but dear lord had she felt alive. On some days she was glad her help wasn’t needed anymore, but on some days, the loneliness felt crushing. Amy wondered if her friends missed her company, if they ever looked back on the old times with fondness like she did.

“ Recall those days, look back on all those times, think of the things we'll never do! There will never be a day
When I won't think of you ~ “

Unbeknownst to anyone her song travelled around the café, into the kitchen, through the open door and into the streets. It floated through the vents, the cracks in the windows and past every locked door and sealed entrance and all the way to somebody’s ears. They twitched, only once, in the sunlight flew a thousand dust particles disturbed by the movement. A head rose from the slumped position it was once held in, as if the being was keenly listening to the echoes. Something stirred awake inside of it, something long forgotten or buried, something warm yet cold. It was familiar in so many ways and yet so strange. A voice like that could not possess a name, no, it would be beneath it. It was the embodiment of beauty, of everything that was good in the world, a beam of light in the darkness of mundane existence. A melody such as this could only be compared to a gentle, cool breeze which cuts through the hot summer day, it’s relieving, it’s rewarding. The person lowered their body to the floor and pressed their face against the surface, listening intently for more.

“ Flowers fade, the fruits of summer fade, they have their season so do we ~ ” Amy closed her eyes. Will she one day fade too? Or was she already fading without her knowledge, slowly away before her time? Never getting to truly live again, doomed to grow old and frail alone without the ones she so found dear? Without finding the true purpose with the little time that'd been bestowed upon her when she had been born. Time was both kind and cruel, it took and never gave, and such was life.

“ But please promise me that sometimes, you will think, ”

A tear escaped her eye. For a moment she wished to hug the people she had called her team. ‘Please think of me’ she thought briefly.

“ of ~ “

Her lungs gathered air before she finally ended the song.

“ Me! ~ “

When her ears stopped ringing, the café was silent. The cars continued to pass outside, the electronics hummed quietly, the speakers rattled every time somebody let out a breath. Then there was clapping. A pair of hands, then two, then four. The hedgehog shielded her eyes from the lights and finally looked at the customers. Two more tables had filled up while she was busy singing.

She hurried down, confidence fading as fast as it had come.

“ Miss Amy! You were wonderful.”

“ I’m so proud of you, my dear. I knew you could do it.”

“ I’ll say, you have sufficiently soared past my expectations Miss Rose.” Toby admitted with a hint of interest in his otherwise unenthusiastic voice. “And on top of that, you seemed to have caught some interest today,” The man gestured to the new customers. “If you perform here on Tuesdays, I will definitely lower the price, how about we say a generous fifty percent off—.”

“ Excuse me, was there a performance just now? We walked past and heard this delightful singing and—.”

“ Does she take requests? I would love to hear her perform ‘On my own’.”

“ Ooh, what about ‘When he sees me’?! I need to hear that!”

“ We’d like to know when she’ll come again. We never get to come here on weekends, the place is always packed full. But if this mysterious singer performs on weekdays, then we’ll get to see too. Is she part of a theatre group?” A group of students were crowding around the till, each throwing a thousand sugar fuelled questions at the poor cashier.

“ Is she going to be here at another time? Please say she’ll be back!“ One of the teens questioned, hands together in a praying motion.

Mister Tabby stared at them, old eyebrows raised nearly to the ceiling, before looking back at the awaiting hedgehog.

“ …Forget about the fifty percent. If you’d be willing to sing here, let’s say three times a week, the space is yours for free. I have a feeling you might be able to bring in a decent number of customers if you do as good as today.” The cat extended his paw in her direction. “What do you say?”

“ It’s a deal!”

“ Marvelous. I’ll see you tomorrow then, come at ten thirty. Here’s my phone number in case anything happens.”

...

The clock ticked on, the girls bid goodbye and made plans to see each other again soon. Gradually each customer, old and new, began to leave as night fell. The streetlights flickered on one after another, lighting the dimming streets with their fluorescent light. Businesses closed as the streets emptied, the traffic became less frequent as people got home to their families. The day was coming to a close, a spreading coolness was slowly replacing the earlier warmth.

Vanilla pushed the dishwasher closed and hummed contently as it whirred to life, steam began to rise from the vents as it worked the last cycle. She swept the floors, wiped the countertops, turned the sign on the door to ‘closed’ and took off her apron.

“ What a day, huh? Haven’t seen that many customers on a weekday since, well, ever!” Her coworker Benji the Jackal noted as he rummaged through his bag. “I’m really glad Miss Rose decided to take that deal! And have you ever seen Mister Toby give something away for free like that? I was in shock I tell you, absolutely flabbergasted— aw man, I can’t find my keys.”

“ Your pockets?” She suggested while wrapping up the remaining food. It seemed as though the croissants hadn’t been selling today like they usually did.

“ Aha! Found them, you’re a lifesaver.” He sighed and dramatically wiped his forehead.

“ You go on ahead, dear. You sound tired. I can close things here, I’ll see you in the morning.”

“ Alright, see ya tomorrow, Miss Vanilla. Get home safe and say hi to Cream for me.”

Once the door closed and the shop became silent, Vanilla opened the fridge and took out a plate with a single ham and cheese sandwich.

“ Hmm, hmm, think of me…” Her humming was barely above a whisper as she slowly strolled up a spiralling metal staircase until reaching the second floor. The rabbit walked to a large window to her left, pushing it open just enough for the plate to sit comfortably on the ledge without falling.

“ There.” She gave the sandwich one last look, smiling faintly, before turning around.

Vanilla began to walk away, already mentally going through the nightly routine of getting home, feeding her daughter and then putting her to bed, before she felt the familiar gust of wind ruffling her fur. She stopped, her ears moved. There was a creak, a tiny one, before the feeling of eyes on her was gone.

When she threw a glance at the window, was the plate empty.

Chapter Text

“ Wouldn’t it be wiser to come here on a time when there were more customers? Like, on a Friday, or something.” Amy asked while stirring her beverage of hot water and lemon. Apart from an old man reading a newspaper on a table next to the window, the place was empty. At first the streets outside had been lively as cars and people alike had passed in a consistent, timely manner, but as time went on, the streets seemed to grow more and more desolate. As if they now lived in their own little, uninhabited corner, away from the rest of the busy, noisy world.

“ You’re right, the weekends have more patrons, but there’s a reason for that.” Vanilla set a stack of clean glasses down and began to organise them by size next to the coffee machines. Over the clinking, she patiently explained. “There are more customers on weekends because we have those scheduled performances by the theatre groups I was telling you about yesterday.”

“ What exactly is it that they do here?” Amy set her spoon down. “They don’t all sing, do they?”

“ There are those who wish to sing a song or two.” The rabbit woman restocked the paper straws. “But that is not all they do. On some days they act out entire plays, but those are always advertised beforehand. It’s a great way to introduce the younger kids to live shows, and good practise for the older ones. Last Friday the advanced group performed Romeo and Juliet! It was wonderful, too bad I couldn’t see it in its entirety from here.”

The woman then pointed to a piece of paper below the napkins, taped to the side of a cupboard. It was a color-coded timetable depicting approximately two weeks’ worth of time. Amy leaned over the counter to take a closer look. On Friday the reservations began at the very moment the café opened when at sharply eight the Station Square Opera performed snippets of their latest show. Right after that the youth theatre would practise line reading in front of the customers, and then there would be passionate poetry reading by the local writing association. On Saturday there was a lot of singular numbers from different productions, marked all by the colours of violet, teal and ruby. Sunday was no different to its predecessor.

Something that caught the girl’s eye was, in the sea of blues, reds and pinks, was a slot marked by yellow in the mornings of both Saturday and Sunday. Amy squinted to see better, on the bottom was marked with a skinny black marker ‘Monsieur Passepartout, Opera. Ask about lights in advance!’

“ All of those people bring in a lot of customers. Well, the younger ones bring mostly family, but they usually buy tea or coffee and little cakes.”

“ Oh.” The girl muttered and finished her drink.

“ Alright Miss Rose, shall we start the tour?” Mister Toby came to the counter with a hurried step. He seemed nervous, one finger tapping at his clipboard which looked to be surprisingly full. Amy nodded and got up from her seat before the two began to head for the backroom.

A door right by the register was opened to reveal a dusty, dim room in the shape of an L, its long side curved behind the stage, where a small lopsided metal door allowed access to it without having to use the other entrance. In one of the corners was also a door, but the sign above it indicated it to be an exit to the outside. Concerningly it was mostly blocked by boxes of who-knows-what.

“ Yes, then behind here we have more storage, everything a friend of theatre might need can be found in these boxes. Costumes, wigs, makeup, other accessories, more chairs. In those cabinets we have shoes and, in that chest, we have bodices. Or at least I think we do… You can use any of these if you think they’ll enhance your performance. Just don’t touch the powdered wigs on the top shelve, they belong solely to the Opera house.”

“ What about these? What’s in there?” The hedgehog asked, pointing to a spiralling staircase. From its railing hung scarfs and necklaces, an old sign and somebody’s ballet shoes.

“ Those lead to the second floor, where the main dressing rooms are. We have three but they don’t see much use, people say they are too dusty and disorganised. Most opt to change in the bathroom.” He motioned for her to take the first step. “Go on then, we can have a look at them as well.”

The steps were wobbly and loud as they began to climb.

“ I-it was to my understanding that this place wasn’t always a café?” Amy questioned while staring at a large, thick spiderweb above a maintenance panel. It seemed to have been abandoned.

“ Yes, I bought this place at the beginning of the year. It was auctioned off, and I just happened to be present when it came time to start bidding. There weren’t many people, and I would have been a fool not to make an offer. If the information I got was to be believed, this used to be a dance school, or a gymnastic school, or something equivalent to that. The principal and the teachers would reside here while the students lived in that building over there.” He pointed in the direction of the abandoned complex. “None of it actually matters, but we had to do a lot of remodelling because of that.”

The second story was nothing much to look at, more of a hallway than anything. Two doors lined each side of the dirty green walls, three had golden stars on them, the one left without read ‘Storage’. On both ends of the hall were large, rounded windows which provided light to the otherwise empty space. Between the doors were more posters, but they were much faded. Some had begun to turn various shades of yellow and brown, some were badly torn. Amy wondered if they possibly carried sentimental value, and that was the reason they hadn’t been thrown away.  

“ Those are the changing rooms, that’s as it says a storage. We keep it locked so if you need to use the vacuum or the sowing kit, ask one of the staff members to unlock it. In case of fire or an emergency, the fire exit is right through that window, just climb down that metal ladder and you’ll get onto the street. Speaking of, the windows can be opened but we don’t really suggest—.”

“ What is that?”

The man groaned but looked at to where she was pointing.

In the roof seemed to be a hatch of some sort, an odd piece of rectangular wood mixed with the pale concrete. It was about two meters wide by both width and length, so very hard to miss. From the surface poked many nail heads.

“ That is our third floor, an old dance studio for rehearsing. But we don’t use it and absolutely no-one’s allowed there.”

“ Why not?”

“ It’s very hazardous, full of broken glass and such. It was simply too expensive to fix, there was a lot of damage and debris, would have cost us thousands. The floor needed to be replaced entirely, one of the windows was broken and would have required custom work for a new glass. So we decided to remove the stairs and seal it shut.”

Amy stared at the roof, eyes fixated on it. There seemed to be nothing outwardly strange about it, but she just had a feeling…

Vanilla watched the two walk out from the back, one of her ears rose imperceptibly to listen.

“ You sing three times a week, Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, if that’s alright with you. Come in around eleven, that’s when people start to be out and about, and depending on the crowd, sing either one or two songs a day. You may enjoy the refreshments freely, though the milkshakes and the cakes do cost extra.” Toby looked at her and nodded. “If any questions come to mind, ask Miss Rabbit or call me.”

“ T-thank you, sir!”

...

Amy bowed to the few clapping audience members before returning to the backroom. She kicked the heels from her feet and sighed, toes at last free from those sparkly, fake diamond encrusted prisons. Had she done good? Was it pleasing enough? Was she too timid or perhaps too bold? Had she sounded like the biggest armature to the regulars who were used to hearing soon-to-be professionals? Maybe she should try a softer tone next time…

Oh well, tomorrow was Friday, and she wouldn’t have to come here until next week. And by the looks of things the current week had gone well, discounting yesterday when she had almost stepped onto the violinist’s foot. She still needed to apologise for that.

“ Hm, I really need some water.” She mused and walked to her bag. But before she could even begin to rummage through it, something on top of it caught her eye. A single, perfectly black rose placed so it was impossible to miss. She raised an eyebrow and slowly picked it up, examining it thoroughly by turning it in her hand. On the stem was tied a thin red string and at the end of it hung a piece of folded paper, like something bought from a flower shop. She opened it and in neat cursive it read,

‘Bravissima’

Somehow as she read it, the words seemed to speak themselves out loud. The voice came right by her ear and so delicate it almost didn’t register at first. Her brain took a second to fully process what she had just heard, gears turning at the speed of which her heart was suddenly pounding.

It had been deep and raspy, like from unuse, though the words sounded truly genuine. They were spoken with unfamiliar gentleness which for some reason left every one of her pink quills standing up in alarm. Her hands nearly dropped the plant as she summoned her hammer.

“ Who’s there?!” Amy loudly demanded swinging the weapon, but when she whipped around, was there not a soul present. Only the vaguely blowing wind from the open window and a growing feeling of being observed.

“ What the…” The girl looked at the closed door, then cautiously peeked behind the boxes, but there was no one in the room. She decided to just close the window and leave before anything else happened.

If she was completely honest, this hadn’t been the first time she’d had a strange feeling while inside the Station Square Theatre Café. Ever since Mister Tabby had given her the tour, she’d had a feeling of being watched, observed and criticised like a mannequin at the mall.

It had started almost immediately when she’d walked through the front door on her second day, and disappeared as soon as she got far enough away from the building. No space seemed to lessen the feeling, except for the bathrooms, where the tension melted from her shoulders and she could finally be at ease. But all the other times she could feel it. When she stood on stage it felt like she was being watched by more people than were present, she heard a slow clap which didn’t seem to match with anyone’s hands. Words of praise came out of thin air, not spoken by mouth but by the wind.

When she was leaving the dressing room on Wednesday, could she have sworn she heard an echoing ‘Brava’.

And yet it never felt malicious. Yes, Amy had felt frightened at first, and was still vary because who wouldn’t be? But she wasn’t scared, she didn’t feel like her safety was threatened, otherwise she would have informed someone.

“ Here’s some hot tea. You need to take care of your throat, alright dear?” Vanilla lectured while offering a small to-go cup. Amy was embarrassed to admit she had nearly screamed from fright. “You have done so well this week, the people seem to love you. I think we even had one more customer today than usual!”

“ Thank you, Vanilla. That means a lot coming from you.” Amy smiled as the smell of peppermint filled her nose. The cup was pleasantly warm in her hands.

“ Take this too.” The woman handed her a white box. “A little treat for your troubles, though don’t tell Toby I gave this to you.” She smiled mischievously. “It’ll be our little secret.”

“ I won’t. But what is it?”

“ A slice of lemon meringue pie. Be sure to eat it as soon as you get home. Otherwise it might go stale.”

Rose tucked it in her bag and gave the rabbit an affectionate hug.

“ Now.” Vanilla began to lead her out from the room. “Hurry on home. I’ll see you on Monday, love. Try not to overexert yourself.”

...

It was Saturday, exactly nine fifty-four am. Amy was sitting in her kitchen, going through a hundred recipes she might consider making for her party when the phone rang. She let it vibrate on the counter for much longer than was probably appropriate, her chosen ringtone managing to loop at least twice. She set the cards down and answered, not even bothering to look at the screen as she decided between upside down cake and a raspberry tart. With the phone resting between her shoulder and ear, she greeted.

“ Hello, Amy Rose spe—.” 

“ Oh, thank god! I’m so sorry to bother you, Miss Rose. I know it’s your time off, and this is not something we discussed at all, but could you please come and cover for one of the performers?” A desperate voice came through the slight static and background noises. It sounded like the speaker was standing in a crowded kitchen, right next to a fully loaded dishwasher.

“ Mister Tabby, sir! Good morning! Has something happened?” Amy stood up and clutched the phone to her ear, worried.

“ Well, no and yes. Uh, there was a, um, a mix-up of sorts and now one of our opera stars is unable to sing.”

“ A mix-up?”

“ A-an accident! Just a simple accident. He was supposed to be performing both today and tomorrow but now he’s unavailable for the foreseeable future. At this point you’re my only hope, everybody else has turned me down. Please help me this one time and I swear I’ll find a way to make it up to you. Please say yes!”

Amy took a deep breath as her mind weighed the options. Would it be better to stay and plan her party or would it be better to say yes and gain a favour from her new, temporary employer? She looked at her reflection in the hallway mirror, thanking every possible god she’d showered an hour earlier than normal. Combing down her bangs she picked up her housekeys and stuffed them in her pocket.

“ …Alright sir. I’ll be there in fifteen.”

“ M-marvellous, th-thank you!”

That was the first, but not the last time there was an ‘accident’.

...

“ How about some purple? You know, to compliment the balloons?” Rouge the Bat asked with a playful smirk on her perfectly painted lips. She, along with Cream and Amy sat at one of the café’s corner tables, steaming cups of tea waiting for them to take the first sip. “Have you given any thought on the party favours? How about something nice and shiny, like a brooch?”

“ Yeah, sure, whatever.” Amy responded, mind miles away from their cozy little corner. Both Cream and Rouge glanced at her, trying to see if she was serious.

“ You know I was only joking, right?”

“ Hm.” The hedgehog hummed as she placed a paper onto a growing pile.

“ Oh, you’re not even listening what we’re saying!” The older woman sighed and set her feet back down from the chair they’d been laying in. Her black high heels clicked against the ground as she got up and waved a hand in front of the other girl. “Earth to Amy. Hello?”

“ Ah, sorry Rouge! What were you saying?”

“ Forget it, it was nothing important. What are you doing, anyway?”

Amy took the pile of papers in her right and held them up. They had neat lines of black running across, and below them were words split with hyphens. “I’m collecting all the songs that I know into a folder I can keep with me. It just seems I don’t know that many… I’ll have to practise at home.”

“ Alright, but can’t you finish that later? We have a party to plan here, that’s important work.”

Rose looked suddenly very apologetic, cheeks coloured red with embarrassment. She stuffed the sheets into her bag and diligently opened her own notebook, with all the ideas she had collected throughout the year. There were cutouts and pictures, little lists, colour suggestions and even mock menus. Between each idea were little doodles, hearts and stars, and the occasional word written in a specific type of cursive. 

“ Miss Amy, what do you think of this?” Cream held up a magazine with a picture of a group playing some sort of trivia game. “The bookstore had a game on sale called UNO. That might be fun, right?”

“ Yeah, that could be one of the options.” Amy rubbed her chin. “But would it be enough fun for everybody?” She suddenly got an image in her head of what it might possibly look like, having Knuckles against Sonic would lead to a certain disaster. She shuddered. “Yeah, no. Let’s shelve that, I can’t afford to fix any windows right now.”

“ Then why not try something totally different?” Rouge took a sip of her tea, pinkie finger raised. “Something we haven’t recently seen, something that leaves an impression! Like a murder mystery or a scavenger hunt, or something.”

“ A murder mystery birthday seems a little dreary, don’t you think?” Amy gulped, she’d rather dress as a princess than a corpse. “I’d rather it be something cheery and fun. Something everybody can take part in but requires no skill. I don’t want to cause any pressure for anyone.”

“ Is that why the original idea of a dance party was canned?“

“ I wasn’t sure if everybody was comfortable enough to dance. They might feel left out.”

“ Oh, I know! What if,” Rouge leaned closer to the two, a smirk tugging at her lips. “No one knew it was you?”

“ What?”

“ Huh?”

“ Just think of it! It doesn’t matter if you don’t know how to dance if nobody can recognise you.”

It took a second for the others to understand, and then,

“ Like a masquerade! That’s brilliant Rouge.”

“ A wonderful idea Miss Rouge!”

“ What can I say? I am amazing.” The bat shrugged, posture exuding confidence she was not feigning ignorance to.

“ And if somebody can’t afford a costume, I’m certain we could borrow some of the stuff from here.” Amy was growing excited by the idea. “We could use the props too. Make this a real, proper masquerade.”

“ Oh! Let’s put the spare curtains over the windows! That way it’ll be darker.”

“ And then we can use those golden candelabras for decoration! We’re going to need lots of candles.”

“ A red carpet, we must have that!”

“ Imagine this,” Rouge got up and placed her hands in front of her to gesture around. “The guests come in and hand the coats to a valet. Everybody’s wearing a mask, there’s an air of mystery! Then they sit down in tables decorated with dark roses in marble vases. And then, in the candlelight, the dancing begins. The violin music plays from the speakers, I wear a dress of gold, my Knuckie takes the lead!” Rouge seemed to hold her breath before whipping around. “Do you know if they have tiaras here?”

“ Uh, I can go check if you’d like?”

“ Yes! Yes, please do, darling. Oh, Amy this will be the best birthday party ever.”

Cream wrote down ‘Ask mother about masks’, before turning back to the two older girls.

“ Do you think we should send the invitations out already? So that everyone has time to prepare.”

“ Good idea Cream. I’ll get them to the post office immediately.” Amy rose from her chair confidently and was about to grab her belongings before sitting back down. “Uh, we might want to write them first. Does anyone have a black pen?”

...

“ Sonic! Sonic!” Came a yell from the lopsided shack with a turquoise roof. The surrounding forests and fields had been unusually quiet for the entire day, the runway hadn’t seen any action in weeks. The light orange airplane sat sleeping in its garage, partially covered by a tarp and waiting for the motor to whir its cold shell alive once more.

“ Sonic!” The voice called again, now much more annoyed.

“ Yeah buddy, what’s up? Do we have a code red? Another scheme from Egg head? An extraterrestrial threat only I can handle?” Sonic chuckled as he came bouncing in the direction of his best friend, Miles Tails Prower, who met him halfway. The fox waved a sealed envelope in his gloved hand.

“ No, nothing like that, don’t worry. But we both just received a letter and—.”

“ Huh, a letter? Let me see that.” The blue hedgehog took it and tore it open, tossing the empty envelope behind him. “Oh, it’s- this is from…” He didn’t finish his sentence before bolting from the building. The blueprints on the wall tore and flew in every direction from the sudden gust of wind. Tails called after his friend, but that didn’t seem to do much.

‘ You have cordially been invited to celebrate Amy Rose’s masquerade themed eighteenth birthday on September twentieth. We gather at seven o’clock in Station Square Theatre Café, 1827 Oakfield Avenue. All kinds of gifts are welcome, but not mandatory. Please RSVP in advance.‘

Sonic ran through the wilderness blindly, feet numbly thumping against the uneven, muddy ground until his path was cut by a vast ocean. He stood by the cliffside and stared out into the horizons, the sunny day was beginning to grow dark and gloomy as evening approached. The waves crashed against the teeth-like rocks below, the wind carried an air of salt, the seagulls called somewhere above.

“ Amy…“ Sonic whispered, as if afraid what uttering the name might bring. “It has been a while. A long time, actually. Oh, what am I thinking, I can’t wait that long! I have to see her now.”

Momentarily the setting sun peeked from between the dark clouds, painting every crack in them with deep, warm crimson and persimmon. Ribbons of light beamed down from wherever they still could and into the waters. Far, far away a ship’s mast bopped with the sea as if it was waving him goodbye.

Sonic unconsciously raised a hand and waved back.

Then the sun was gone and rain began to fall, small dust like spray coated everything it touched without mercy. The seagulls repetitive calls were exchanged to the rumbling of thunder. Sonic shivered, dashing under one of the trees he’d previously ran past without a second glance. It’s thick branches provided much needed safety from the harsh elements of the countryside.

“ Argh, darn it.” He groaned and glared at the sky accusingly. “Great. Just my luck.”

The clouds moved with the wind, not bothering to reply.

“ Well, it’s getting late anyway. I’ll travel to the city tomorrow.” The hero clutched the invitation to his chest, fearing it might get ruined.

“ I’ll see you tomorrow, Amy.”