Mobius: The Final Stand Ch. 25
Cream's house
5:13 pm
Evening had descended across the land of Mobius; the fading sun giving off brilliant and colorful flashes of orange, red, and purple. It reflected its radiant colors as it vividly contrasted with the darkening landscape and forestry, now engulfed in dusk. The drone of crickets chirping and other bugs flittering about resonated in the quiet night, as the sounds of other animals slowly and quietly died away. At the top of a small hill rested a cozily-sized house; its decorative flower bushes and maple trees dotting the front and back yard. Inside, Raymond had just finished telling his story in front of a stunned audience.
"…And so, the rest is history… that's how I came to be here…" As he finished speaking, the rest of the room remained silent, some of them with tears in their eyes. Taking this as a cue to continue, Raymond spoke up again:
"So really… even though I've been through so much, I'm still not the hero. Not of this story." Raymond turned to face them and gestured with his hands, spreading them out in front of him. "It's all you guys. You saved the universe, not me. I'm just behind the scenes, working out my own problems…"
Raymond managed a small smile, as Sonic started to clap slowly at first, then Knuckles and Tails, until the whole room was respectfully applauding. "Thanks guys for listening… hope that made things a bit more clear…"
As he stood by the doorway afterwards, they came up to him and gave their condolences.
"Take care buddy! I KNOW that Emily's proud of ya!" Sonic encouragingly shouted as he grinned and sped away, disappearing into the darkness of the night.
Raymond nodded thankfully. "Thanks, I know so too…"
As Knuckles, Rouge, the Chaotix, and Amy left, each greeting Raymond, he smiled and thanked them in return.
Finally, Tails and Cosmo came up to Raymond. As they approached him, Cosmo was the first to speak…
"Why? Why did you have to do that?" Cosmo sighed looked down at the ground. "I don't deserve—"
Raymond held up his hand thoughtfully, cutting her off and staring into her eyes. "Yeah, you do actually. You sacrificed your own life, to save everyone else's. That's the most selfless act of kindness I've ever seen…. Just think of it as a thank-you for saving my life too…" Raymond kindly assured her.
"Still…" Cosmo continued sorrowfully. "But you loved Emily so much! So why bring me back instead?"
Raymond smiled warmly. "Because, Tails needs you. I can see that both of you love each other so much too. I know Emily would have agreed with my decision, and I'm betting so do you two. So who am I to contradict?"
"But" Tails started. "Don't you still want her back?"
Raymond looked away, tears starting to form in the corners of his eyes. After a long while, he started to speak sadly, slowly. "Yeah…I still do…" Raymond turned his head back around to face them. "But I know that she's alright where she is. I don't have to constantly worry about her safety against enemies…" Raymond trailed off and suddenly started, remembering something. "Oh, wait a second. Here, I have something for you guys…"
Raymond drew back one hand and reached behind his back, unsheathing his swords he won from Slash. He handed the green one to Cosmo and the white one to Tails.
"These I also want you to have for saving my life after battling the Minotaur again. Sorry, it's just they bring back a lot of bad memories…" Tails and Cosmo tried to resist, but Raymond was already climbing into the cockpit of his ship.
"Where are you going?" Tails wondered out loud, clutching his sword.
Raymond grinned fearlessly. "I'm leaving. I've done my job, now I've got to back to Newark to take my revenge."
"Buut…" Tails countered. "Why don't you stay here with us? At least one night? And besides, you're going to get killed!"
Raymond turned on the engine as it revved up smoothly. "I've long been ready to die… I've got to go back…" He trailed off, looking off into the distance.
"Won't you stay here please? At least won't you do it for us?" Cosmo asked.
Raymond looked down thoughtfully and pondered for a few long moments. Then, he gave a long sigh and turned the engine off.
"Well…if you really want me to stay, then I guess I could for a short while…"
As Raymond hopped down on the grassy field, Tails asked him again. "Why do you need to go out and fight Malcolm? Why not stay here, and if he comes, we'll all help you!"
Raymond shook his head vigorously from side to side. "Sorry, it's WAAY to dangerous. I don't want to lose any of you guys either."
"So? We've been in dangerous situations before!" Tails argued. Raymond stopped walking, and turned back to face him.
"Yeah well... Not like this… nothing like this before…." Raymond mumbled, and kept on walking on top of the barely orange-reflected sunlit lawn. He turned to address the two.
"Here, I actually need to go back to my ship and gather my belongings, so I'll be back. You two can go on without me, I'll catch up later." Raymond turned around and sprinted back in the direction he came from, leaving Tails and Cosmo standing there awkwardly in silence with just the swaying grass brushing gently against their ankles.
Tails hesitantly turned to Cosmo and blushed. "Soo… uhhh…. Do you want to stay at my house too?"
Cosmo blushed as well. "Umm... okay… I mean if that's alright with you…."
"Of course that is Cosmo!" Tails exclaimed. "I'd love to have you stay, just as much as I love y—" Tails realized what he was about to say.
To his surprise, that made Cosmo giggle. "Really? You love me?" Tails nodded, embarrassed. "Awww!" Cosmo smiled hugely and wrapped her arms around a blushing Tails.
"Hehe..well…" Tails was about to say when he got cut off.
"Uhh.. ahem?"
Raymond jumped up out of nowhere, startling the two. Tails and Cosmo broke apart, looking down at the ground.
"Uhh…" Tails started.
"We weren't doing anything…" Cosmo finished.
Raymond smirked. "Riiight… sorry for bothering you guys... Next time I'll leave you alone longer." Raymond rushed by ahead, carrying a large backpack, leaving Tails and Cosmo alone again.
"So… uhh.. we should probably go too," Tails told Cosmo. She smiled sweetly in return.
"Okay Tails! I can't wait! We really get to be with each other just like I promised before when we were battling the Meterex!"
Up ahead entering the foliage, Raymond sighed, thinking about Emily. But then, he smiled and shrugged his depression off. Hearing Tails and Cosmo happy together made him feel a lot better. And besides, he could sense Emily still in his thoughts sometimes….
The three of them reached Tails' workshop as Raymond dumped his contents on the middle of the floor. He started to sort through it, throwing away pieces of junk and trash. Tails walked up, and started to examine the pile too.
"Spam?" Tails held up the can and wrinkled his nose. Raymond tried to grab it back.
"Hey! Anything tastes good after you've eaten what they serve in the Newark Army!" Raymond reached for it, but Tails tossed it up and caught it with one of his tails. Tails then held up an odd looking gun.
"What's-" Raymond noticed Tails and yelped.
"Hey, don't point that at me!" Raymond grabbed the muzzle and pointed it to the ground.
After spending an amusing hour or so sorting through his stuff, Raymond packed it all back again, and told Tails he was going to take a nap.
"I'll be upstairs, if anyone needs me…" Raymond told the two yawning, and then walked up the stairs.
"Hey thanks again for letting me stay Tails!" Raymond told Tails.
Tails grinned. "No problem! Don't mention it!"
Raymond just laughed. "Well, anyways I'm guessing you two want to be left alone, so cya!"
Raymond disappeared upstairs.
Tails and Cosmo were left sitting there on the couch silently. Both of them wanted to tell the other person how much they loved them, but were too embarrassed to do so. Then, Tails remembered his promise he had made this morning to the plant that had come from Cosmo…
Tails sighed, and mustered up the courage to talk.
"Umm, Cosmo?" Tails hesitantly turned to look at her, and stopped. Just seeing Cosmo made his heart beat faster and his voice get stuck in his throat. She turned around to look at him, smiling.
"Yes, Tails?" She politely answered.
"Ummmm…" Tails couldn't talk. "Uhh… Well…" He desperately thought of how he could place the words around in his head so that it would come out right.
Cosmo leaned over and held a finger to his lips, shushing him. "Is what you said earlier true?" She asked him.
Tails gulped and nodded. Then, he spoke up. "Yeah Cosmo… of course I love you!" The words seemed to be coming out easier and more smoothly the more he talked and went on. "I have since we first met when you crashed here from that spaceship. And I've enjoyed so much all the time we were able to spend together when we fought the Meterex, trying to make you feel welcome and special…" Tails was about to say more when Cosmo gently held Tail's muzzle and brought it closer to her face as the two kissed…
Upstairs, Raymond was lying on the bed looking up at the ceiling, arms folded behind his head. He lazily traced circles with one finger in front of his face, thinking…
"Hmm... I'm going to make a wild prediction and say the two of them are already kissing now.." Raymond muttered to himself…
Tails and Cosmo stayed like that together for a minute, hugging tightly. Warmth flowed from each of their bodies and into each other, and the feel of each other's lips on their own made them want to stay like this forever…
Finally, they broke away, smiling at each other.
"Wow… that was…" Tails started.
"…just amazing…." Cosmo finished.
The two of them held hands, as Cosmo rested her head on Tails' shoulder, closing her eyes. The
two of them soon fell asleep like that, in each other's arms, warm and content….
Maybe life was going to be good after all….