I

Sleepless Nights

It was very dark in Tails' workshop, the only light visible was coming from the full moon directly shining down past Cosmo's plant onto a very cluttered desk, at which Tails was sitting with his hands to his eyes. His two usually perky tails were lying lifelessly on the floor behind him. Tails hadn't been himself since that dreadful moment five years ago; nowadays, he spent most of his time cooped up in his workshop that, over the years, had become more and more bleak and gloomy. Many of the lights had either burned out or busted; his mechanized style was much darker than the colorful blue, red, yellow, and other bright colors of his past works; and the overall mood had a very unkempt feel to it as Tails rarely had the energy to get up and clean it. He had become increasingly depressed and unproductive over the past five years, making very little to no progress on any of his projects. Despite his emotional condition, few things kept him going every new day: his loving friends, who made relentless efforts to constantly boost tails' self-esteem, though, usually to no avail. The other thing was a rose plant, the one Cosmo had transformed into over the years; it was a stunningly beautiful plant with fiery red petals; smooth, green leaves, glistening gorgeously in the moonlight; and a long, slender body of bright green, the same color as her soft hair that Tails always longed to feel with his own hands, but never got the chance… and never will.

Tails finally lifted his head up from its prone position and looked up at a slanted clock that he had never bothered to readjust. "It's three A.M. I should really get some sleep." He thought to himself as he rose up out of his chair which made a rather loud creak. "Should probably get this thing replaced sometime." He grumbled to himself as he rubbed his forehead with his hand and started slowly towards his bed: an old, beat up looking mattress with grease stains and other unidentifiable spots and blotches on it lying on the floor next to his old biplane, the tornado. He had used this plane in many adventures with Sonic and the gang, but now, it just gathers dust. He stroked the cold, lifeless metal as he yearned for those days once more; he wanted to be the lively, ambitious fox again, constantly running (or flying) alongside his best pal, Sonic with knuckles not far behind, beating up Eggman at every turn. Tails shook his head. "Those days are gone." He thought to himself as he got onto the old mattress and attempted to go to sleep.

More and more hours passed by as they faded into one another, it even started to rain; Tails didn't seem to care about his surroundings, lost in thought, he trailed his vision off to the side in the direction of the rose, standing gracefully upright in the window with a glimmering essence, even though it was almost pitch black with no light to reflect. Tails didn't seem to notice, as he was more wrapped up in the beauty of the magnificent rose. "Man… what I'd do to just turn back time and redo those events. I would give anything." He thought to himself. "No. It's not possible; get those silly, childish ideas out of your head, Tails." A depressing sigh escaped his mouth as his eyelids hung down to about halfway. "I'm so tired of being tired." Muttered the fox ironically to no one in particular. After a pause and building tension in both the storm now raging outside and in his own self: "GODDAMMIT! WHY CAN'T YOU HEAR MY CRIES?!" screamed the fox out of nowhere as a harsh thunder and lightning combination crashed simultaneously, lighting up the night sky in an eerie, blue glow, also revealing the twisted, painful, tear-filled, equally blue eyes of the hurting fox. "I hear you, Tails, Please calm down." A familiar voice resounded in a soft but crisp tone inside the enraged fox's ears. "C-Cosmo?" Tails looked around the room desperately for the source of the ghost-like voice, but found nothing. He went to turn the lights on in a last-ditch effort to claim his nonexistent prize. "No one…" he sadly muttered to himself, tears returning to his eyes once more. "Am I hearing things? Have I finally lost it?" He questioned, trembling, with his hands to his head, taking a seat on the step on which he was standing previously, Giving deep thought to how and what that was.

"It had to be her." He decided, "But how?" He began to think again about how she could have done that. Was there a chance to, yet, bring her back? Thunder stoke again, disengaging the fox from his thoughts once more. "I should take Cosmo to a safer place." He thought, completely lost of all previous notions. The young fox snatched the plant with care and darted to the living room. He arrived and set light to the fireplace, then promptly sat down on the couch onlooking it with his beloved rose in his hands. The fire may have been warming, but Tails still felt freezing cold, as he had found himself feeling more and more often. He didn't care; he was used to it by now: the unnatural cold, the unending lost and lonely feeling. It haunted him like a ghost in the night.

The fox began thinking again, as that's all he seemed to do as of late. "Five years and still no answer." He grumbled. A sigh with a pause following. "Maybe… just maybe… the Chaos Emeralds… maybe they hold the answer." The fox speculated. "What are you doing, Tails? Attempting to screw with Nature's boundaries." He questioned himself. "Why should I give a flying fuck about nature and its boundaries? What has it cared about for me?" He rebutted. "The dead should remain so, Tails; you, of all people, should know that." He continued. "Fuck you! Fuck your nature! Fuck your… UGH! Fuck Cosmo… Dammit… she left me… left me to die inside… WELL I'M DEAD! I'm so… dead. God… why… how could you leave me like this?" He grilled, once again, to no one. "Have you, the right to even say that, Tails?" he asked himself. "Was it not you who pulled the trigger?" "I… I… no… you can't… I had to…" He said maddeningly with his hands against his forehead. "What else could I do? WHAT ELSE?!"

…Silence…

"ANSWER ME, GODDAMMIT!" He bellowed out with great sound, dropping his beloved rose to the floor, shattering the pot. "No… Cosmo…" He scrambled to the floor to pick up the mess as tears filled his eyes and he began weeping uncontrollably.

"I can't stand the pain, Cosmo… take it away… take it all away. The only thing I want to feel is you. You're all I want, all I've ever wanted, you're all I need. I NEED you, Cosmo. God… why… why did it have to be you…? I never even got to tell you how I actually feel." With another pause and no response (why would there even be one?), Tails gathered himself, or, at least, what was left, and gently picked up the flower, as he cared not about the mess. Why should he? The fox went into the kitchen and fetched a pot for the lovely rose; he also filled it with soil he was also curiously carrying in the kitchen. He planted the flower delicately into the soil and gave it water; it immediately stood back up. As Tails gazed at the flower with appreciation, he began to regain himself. "Now then… since I can't sleep, let's go find some answers!" He stated to his rose flower, now filled with life, not expecting a response.

(Total words so far: 1,311)

Hi there! Yes... it's my first chapter of my first story that will probably look terrible in a few years. BUT... gotta start somewhere! ^_^ Anyway, just make sure to try and leave a review; tell me what I did right and what I did… not-so-right… heh. But no, I would love to hear from you guys if it's well-received or nah.

I definitely plan on continuing this; in fact, I've already started on chapter two. And by "started", I mean like... a few words… haha.

(Subject to change: title, rating)

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