Cosmo felt herself slowly return to the waking world, and the first thing she felt was a small, warm tickling on her chest. She opened her eyes, and the blurry image of her room in Topaz Harbor Hospital began to clear, and she saw a small, glowing yellow bird on her chest. It tilted its head, looking back at her curiously, giving out a short chirp.
Her vision cleared more, and her attention was drawn to a greater source of light to her right over by her bedside. She glanced up tiredly and saw... Tails? At least she thought it was Tails. Like the bird that had landed on her, his fur had taken on a brighter yellow hue, and he had a golden glowing aura about him, and his normally sky blue eyes had taken on a fiery orange appearance, but they still looked down at her with love. Behind him, she thought she saw Amy, but she couldn't be sure with the light emanating from Tails' figure.
"Tails...?" Cosmo asked groggily, her senses dulled with the morphine coursing through her system.
"Shh. It's alright. It's over. You rest now." He said to her with a gentle smile, as he slowly reached out and softly placed his right hand on her broken leg. As he made contact, she felt a tingling sensation, and then the pain began to fade. Seconds later, he slowly moved his hand up her body, and gently ran his glowing fingers across the gash on the side of her head.
What little throbbing she felt on her head slowly faded away, and the warmth coursing into her lulled her back to sleep.
His task complete, Tails lifted his hand from her forehead, and exhaled, falling back into the chair behind him. He pulled the chair up closer to her bedside as the vast amount of energy began to leave him, and he barely got his head down to a resting position next to her right hand before he too welcomed the world of dreams.
As the sun began to dip below the Emerald Hills, Miles Tails Prower made his way out of his hangar after parking his jet, the Tornado 2. So ended yet another day down at the site of one of the best and worst decisions of his life.
He walked up the cobblestone path to the front door of his new home, and turned the knob, stepping into the structure made purely of adaptive polarity panels. Over one thousand of them made up the walls, doors, and roof of their home. Each one could be adjusted anywhere between completely opaque and crystal clear at the turn of a dial. This also made it one of the best climate controlled buildings on the continent.
"Hey there, I was wondering when you'd be home." Greeted the loving voice of his wife from the kitchen as she came around the corner to welcome him home.
Being cradled in her arms, in a pink fleece footed sleeper, was their six-week old daughter, Lily, who reached out for her father upon seeing him.
Smiling, Tails came in for a kiss from Cosmo, then immediately leaned down, softly kissed Lily on the forehead, and took her into his arms as she babbled happily.
Lily's fur was a slightly paler shade of green than her mother's. She had the beginnings of Cosmo's leaf-like hair in front, rapidly growing hair in back, and in place of the buds on the sides of her head, were fox-like ears. Her inner ears and muzzle matched Cosmo's pale skin color. Her eyes were shaped like Cosmo's, but their color was closer to Tails'. She had no tail, but as fast as her hair was growing in back, any ponytail would reach down that far soon enough. The doctors had claimed she was a completely healthy fox-seedrian hybrid; a mix of her parent's genetic makeup with no irregularities. Tails and Cosmo couldn't have been luckier, or happier.
Tails took Lily to the den and sat down on the couch while Cosmo went back into the kitchen and returned with the bottle of milk she had been warming up, and handed it to her husband. He offered Lily the nipple, and she began to feed in earnest.
"You look like you have something on your mind, Tails. Was it a good day?" Cosmo asked, taking a seat next to him as Lily nursed from the bottle.
Tails smiled down at his daughter. Cosmo could read him like a book. He saw it as a good thing because he never wanted to keep anything from her, but it was also a bit tricky trying to surprise her with dinner or a gift.
"Yeah, it was a good day. We got another quarter ton ready for smelting. It's just..."
"What is it, Tails?"
"It's Chris."
"Is he wanting to find another project? You two have been salvaging those wrecks for nearly six months now."
"No, that's just it. He's working at it harder than I am. It's not that I want to work harder; he's been more than adamant about me setting time aside every day for you and Lily. I just think... Well, I think he's working too hard. He sets time aside for Helen, even for helping us with Lily, but... I don't know. I feel like he doesn't set enough time aside for himself."
"What makes you say that?"
"About five months ago, he asked me if he could use the Hyper Tornado to go skydiving. He said while his hovercraft was nice, that skydiving was the best way to get that sense of speed and freedom that Sonic gets. I told him 'sure', even practically gave him the jet; after all, it was essentially his during the Metarex War."
"And?"
"I went with him, we both loved it, but he only took it out that one time. He should have enough free time to go once every week or two if he wants to."
"So what are you going to do?"
By now, Lily had finished her bottle, Tails set it on the end table, and put her over his shoulder and began to burp her.
"I pulled Sonic aside this morning and asked him to talk to him about it when he could. I figured it would mean more coming from him."
Lily gave out a short burp, and Tails pulled her back and resumed cradling her, where she continued her content babbling and tugged on his muzzle before giving out a yawn.
"Alright, sweetheart, let's get you into a bath before bed." Tails said, getting up, cooing at his daughter, getting a giggle out of her in return. Together, the three of them walked to the bathroom.
Sonic ran down the road towards the Sapphire Sea as the stars began to appear in the night sky. He wanted to cut his run a bit short tonight so he could get up early to head over to Chris and Helen's cabin before they got started with their day tomorrow. It wouldn't take long; their cabin was barely half a mile from Amy's house. But Tails felt that someone needed to try to talk to Chris about how he was managing his time. The two-tailed fox felt that Chris wasn't setting enough time aside for himself, and figured Sonic was the best person to figure out if anything was wrong.
He was about to speed by their house when he skidded to a halt, noticing a faint light coming from around the back. Deciding to see what was up, he walked up the path that rounded the left side of the small two-bedroom log cabin, which all of them had spent two months building. When Chris and Helen arrived, luckily Angel Island hadn't drifted too far out in the Sapphire Sea yet, and Knuckles was able to go get Tails to arrange for a ride back to the mainland.
When it came to selecting a plot of land, the two of them had immediately decided on the lakefront near Amy's house, and Amy, for her part, made the offer of the guest room while they all pitched in to get their home built, as Chris made it clear that this was a permanent move this time. By the time they had finished, Sonic noted the cabin's similarities to his family's lakeside villa, though smaller and less extravagant.
Things immediately began looking up for Helen as well. By the time they arrived, Tails had found a couple Chaos Emeralds, and Sonic was able to use that energy to begin to heal the paralysis in her legs. She was overwhelmed with joy for days, and offered multiple times to somehow repay Sonic for his deed, although he kindly refused each time.
There was also the question of what to do with their new lives on Mobius. It didn't take Chris long to become partners with Tails in all things machinery. They went to Topaz Harbor town hall and announced their first long-term project; the salvaging of the remains of Eggman's command tower, as well as the wrecks of the Egg Carrier 3, Blue Typhoon, and X-Tornado in the Mystic Ruins swamp. They estimated that such a task would take the better part of a year, and so far they had been doing that five days a week for six months; although Sonic had his suspicions that Chris frequently worked weekends as well if he didn't have any other commitments. Tails was right; he didn't seem to like sitting still and doing nothing.
For Helen, she went into Topaz Harbor and purchased every single book she could find on botany. Such a career choice made a partnership with Cosmo inevitable, and the two of them went about carefully reseeding the path of destruction that Eggman's heavy mover had carved through the Green Forest. Aside from that, she also kept busy on weekends; leading volunteer nature hikes out into the woods most Saturdays. When Lily was born six weeks ago, both of them, as well as Amy, Cream, and Sonic, made room in their schedules to help out with the new arrival.
With Eggman gone, it had also been one of the most peaceful years in Mobius' modern history, and even Sonic and Amy's lives had seen significant changes. Sonic found himself helping out much more around the house, and Amy spent the year becoming a much more proficient cook, and after Chris and Helen moved into their cabin down the road, she had since been considering making her house a bed and breakfast, since neither she nor Sonic were quite ready to start a family of their own.
Sonic rounded the left side of the cabin, and saw Chris in his usual red-and-white t-shirt, black undershirt, and blue jeans, sitting next to a blazing campfire in his backyard a few dozen feet from the lake.
"Well, doesn't this look familiar?" Sonic said, announcing his presence, and Chris turned to look at his late night visitor.
"Familiar?" Chris asked in return, looking back out to the lake through the flames. "Oh, right... The night you left." Chris replied as Sonic walked up to the fire.
"Helen go off to bed already?" The hedgehog asked, sitting down on the stump to the right of Chris', one of six he had set up around the backyard fire pit.
"Yeah. Quite a day today with the nature hike she led, and busy day tomorrow; she offered to babysit Lily."
In between their two stumps, Chris had set up a small oak folding table. On it, rested a chocolate cupcake, a box of matches, and a single candle.
"What's the occasion?" Sonic asked, motioning to the cupcake.
Chris glanced at the cupcake on the table, and gave a small smile.
"Well, since Helen and I don't really have a use for Earth's calendar anymore, I thought that I'd make a change. I came back here one year ago today. Decided to celebrate it in a way. Kinda like... My birthday over here."
Sonic recalled the date, and yes, he was right. It had been a year to the day.
"Well, in that case, happy birthday." Sonic replied, giving him a playful slug on the shoulder. "So what about Helen? She celebrating too?"
"Nah. She decided to just adjust for the calendar here." Chris replied.
"So why only one candle? That the only one you have?" Sonic asked, glancing down at the cupcake.
"No, I've got two dozen in there, I guess it's just my way of... Starting over or something."
"What do you mean by that?" The hedgehog asked. Chris looked over at him, the orange hue of the fire illuminating his face.
"Sonic, do you have any idea what kind of an effect you had on people in my world? The Freedom Movement? People got outside more. They jogged and ran more. They found more time to relax. That didn't stop after you and the others went home. For as much as life improved for seemingly everyone else, for me... It just seemed to stand still."
"Speaking of finding more time to relax, that's what Tails wanted me to come over and talk to you about."
"Hm?"
"Yeah. He's worried that you're not taking enough time for yourself. You're helping out plenty with Lily, and your salvaging project is coming along great, but he's noticed that more work's been done on the Egg Carrier between Friday and Monday. He's afraid that you're working too hard."
Chris' eyes widened as his gaze returned to the fire, and then they slowly turned to a look of anger.
"Well I guess that settles it. So much for change, I guess I can't get away from it no matter where I go!" Chris said angrily, getting up and kicking the dirt, sending out a plume of dust that made his fire's flames flicker.
"Whoa, hey buddy, I didn't mean to make you upset..." Sonic said, remaining on his stump as Chris remained standing, staring down at the fire.
"It's not your fault, Sonic. I've..." He paused, struggling with his words. He turned back towards the hedgehog.
"I've turned into my dad. A workaholic. Someone who works so hard to provide for everyone else that he's never around."
"But you are around. You're there for everyone. You're great with Lily, you and Helen have made a beautiful home together. You're just not setting any time aside for yourself. That's all. I used to have to remind Tails about that once or twice in the past. Now he's got Cosmo to do that."
Chris took a breath, and returned to his stump.
"I still can't believe he dealt with Eggman single handedly." Chris mused.
"Heh, you can't believe it? I was there and I still have trouble believing it at times. If I learned one thing that night, it's that he's got one hell of a right hook." Sonic retorted.
Chris chuckled at the thought. Try as he might, he couldn't imagine Tails getting so angry that he'd take a swing at Sonic, much less connect.
"Amazing that his and Cosmo's DNA was compatible. Like, perfectly compatible, for a completely healthy baby like Lily." Chris commented.
"Well, I guess we'll never know about that."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I haven't spent a huge amount of time around babies, but whenever a cross-species couple has a baby, I've noticed that they usually have the looks and traits of mostly one parent. Not like Lily, not perfectly shared like her. No, I'd bet that the Chaos Emeralds had a part to play there."
"How?"
"When Tails healed her. He achieved a super state, and after dealing with Eggman, he returned to the hospital, and touched her wounds to heal them. The emeralds turn our thoughts and wishes into power. A week after her recovery, she asked Amy and me if we knew anything about cross-species procreation. Sadly we didn't, but it was evident that she didn't want to be the last Seedrian. I'm thinking, deep down, she wanted a way to continue her lineage, and the Chaos Emeralds, through Tails' super state, granted that wish." Sonic explained.
Chris nodded in understanding.
"It feels like forever ago..." He mused.
"What's that?"
"Fighting with all of you against the Metarex. For me, it was twelve years ago. And your first adventures in my world? Another six years. And now, getting up every morning and seeing that kid in the mirror again... It's surreal."
"Did it get any better?" Sonic asked him.
"Did what get any better?"
"You don't think I forgot about that day traveling together, do you? That night at the lake? You were waiting for someone like me because your parents were hardly ever there. What happened after I left?"
Chris' gaze returned to the fire again.
"It did for awhile. On the drive home they swore to me that things would be different. That we'd be a family again. And for a bit we were..."
"But...?"
"But of course, change is easy. Not changing back, slipping back into your old ways, that's the hard part."
"And that's what happened?" Sonic asked.
"After a couple months, yeah. My dad's company would call him about some lucrative new software patent, and my mom couldn't keep saying no to the money some of the casting calls were offering. Things were back to the way they were barely a year later. It happened so slowly that it was hard for anyone to notice. As good friends as they were, Danny, Frances, and Helen couldn't relate. The way they saw past my family's financial advantages... I'll never forget that. But... At the end of the day, they went home to their moms and dads. That was the one thing they had that I was missing. I thought going to work for my dad after high school would be a great way to close the gap again, but... It didn't help. I got more satisfaction working by myself on the transporter that brought me here than I ever did working with dad on his projects. Maybe because by then we were already too far apart again. Because it got me closer to seeing all of you again."
"I'm... I'm sorry to hear that, Chris."
"Don't be. It's not your fault. You had to go back home, and you did all you could for me. If anything it's my fault."
"What?"
"For not nipping it in the bud. For not calling them out on it when they first started to drift away again. Instead I just buried myself in my work, in my transporter so I could see all of you again, even if I didn't care about not having a way back... Oh... I never told you, did I?"
"Told me what?"
"Eggman's way home for me. It didn't return me to my original age. I lived my teenage years all over again. I came home to a nine-year gap between me and my friends. Things were never really the same after that, and it wasn't the worst part."
Sonic was silent, waiting for his friend to continue.
"Grandpa passed away... While I was here fighting the Metarex. He was more of a father to me than dad ever was, and I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye. I kept telling myself that we all paid a price for our victory against the Metarex, and that was my price." Chris said, his voice shaking, tears pricking the corners of his eyes.
"Chris..."
"They tried to be sympathetic, but it didn't help. I was already so distant from them that any condolences they offered did nothing to ease that pain. Sometimes I wonder if they've forgotten about me entirely. After all, it's been another twelve years for them now..."
"Chris, it's okay to be homesick—"
"But I'm not!" Chris exclaimed, bolting to his feet again, starting to cry. "I'm not! That's what wrong with me! I didn't tell anyone I was leaving the first time, and the one person who could have possibly understood wasn't there when I got back. I just stopped caring. Tanaka and Ella were still the closest people in my life. There was a wall between me and my parents, and I had put it there brick by brick for years ever since you left me at the lake. I'm not homesick! I want them to constantly miss their only child, and I want them to always remember that there's nothing... Nothing that they can ever do to have me back!"
Chris collapsed to his hands and knees in front of the fire, shoulders heaving. He looked up at Sonic once more, tears streaming down his face.
"What kind of person wants that? How cold has my heart gotten that I want my mom and dad to never forget what they lost?" The boy asked just above a whisper. His gaze returned to the ground, teardrops falling to the grass.
"That's why I don't want to relax, or have any time to myself. I get angry... At myself and everyone I left behind." Chris' voice shuddered.
He heard Sonic get off his stump, take a few steps towards him, and knelt down in front of him.
"Maybe it wasn't possible to get closer to them after all that time." Sonic began, his voice gentle, putting a hand on Chris' heaving shoulder. "Your mom and dad had twelve years to build a bond with you. If you believe it was wrong to shut them out after all that time, that's your choice to feel that way, but that doesn't absolve them of their wrongs. That's not time they can just make up. You grew up without them. Maybe you did build a wall between yourself and them; perhaps you didn't even know you were doing it; you really think anyone would blame you for that? That's not a cold heart, Chris; that's someone who didn't want to be lied to and hurt anymore. I know what you've done with Tails for the past six months, especially now that he has a baby girl. Believe me, I know how distracted and tied up he can get in his work a lot of the time. He's told me how much of his workload you've taken on yourself, and you know what?" Sonic paused, putting his other hand on Chris' chin, lifting his head so their eyes met.
"I think it's because you want him to be the absolute best dad to Lily that he possibly can. Do you know what kind of strength that takes? To take a childhood like yours, and use those experiences to ensure that he doesn't make the same mistakes? Do you know what kind of person does that? Someone with one of the warmest, kindest hearts I've ever seen."
Chris sniffled, and his lips trembled as he leaned forward and threw his arms around the blue hedgehog as a fresh torrent of tears made their way forward. Sonic returned the embrace, comforting his friend as he grieved for his past. After he had let it all out, Sonic walked back to the folding table, put the candle in the cupcake, got a match out from the box, struck it, and lit the candle. He shook the match out and turned and walked back to Chris, holding out the treat.
"Happy birthday, Chris."
Chris sniffled, wiped his eyes as best he could, and took a breath.
As much as he wanted to expel all of his childhood anger and frustration along with the air in his lungs, he knew it wouldn't be that simple. There would be other times; times where he'd grapple with the past; the people and places he'd left behind. But from now on he wouldn't be afraid to be alone with his thoughts. Because he wasn't alone. He had Helen, Sonic, Amy, Vanilla, Cream, Tails, Cosmo, and Lily.
He tightened his lips, exhaled, and the flame on the candle vanished.