Time had passed since the Metarex were defeated: Sonic and friends, Team Chaotix and even Eggman all fought valiantly as one to put a stop to their adamant desecration of the galaxy. The battle seemed to go on forever, yet after all hope seemed lost, an unlikely yet unforgettable hero sacrificed herself to finish the Metarex. While this act of gallantry was certainly not in vain, one of Sonic's furry friend's couldn't quite let her go, envisioning Cosmo in what he knew was false hope every single night.
"Finished!" exclaimed Tails, attempting to seem enthusiastic. The tinkering, two tailed fox had just completed the upgrades on his plane named 'The Tornado' after working non-stop for weeks on them. For most, ending a task of such length would cause for a feeling of ecstasy - a weight off of their chest. For Tails however, well, this was just another pass-time for him. In fact, pretty much everything he did now consisted of collecting, crafting and combining materials for his various machines and gadgets. Of course he still spent time with his friends, but ever since that dismal day two and a half years ago, Tails could never truly seek his happiness.
Peacefully resting, Tails leg twitched a little during his deep slumber. Exhausted from all of his work, he had hit the hay early that night in hope of feeling rejuvenated by sunrise. The others, living not to far from him, were also all sound asleep. The sky was cloudless; the full extent of space's eternal abyss - which they only recently traversed - was staring down on them. Thousands of stars burned bright, their effulgence not enough to light up Mobius, but certainly enough to boast their shimmering beauty. Some of the huge spheres of gas flickered as their light passed through the atmosphere, whereas close planets reflected a perfect white. The world was silent, however as the universe gazed upon it one star appeared much larger and brighter than the others. This giant ball of fire had a stunning iridescence about it, and it's vibrant colours were enough to very faintly light up the grassy land beneath. Suddenly, all silence was shattered by a tremendous boom, causing everyone but Tails to awaken. Immediately following the sound, a rabble grew outside with everybody posing questions.
"Hey, did you all hear that?" inquired Amy, lifting her hands slowly from her ears (which were ringing from the insanely powerful noise).
"Apparently most of us did," replied Sonic in an almost frustrated tone, "but I don't see Tails anywhere. It's probably just another one of Eggman's schemes. I'll go wake him up." Sonic let out a heavy sigh, dawdling over to Tails' place at an ironically slow pace. He woke himself up while walking and instinctively dashed over, now appreciating the threat that may be opposing them.
Sonic knocked on Tails' door and shouted, "Tails! Tails wake up! We just heard a really loud bang and we are going to check it out." He got no response, so he took the liberty to stroll inside, turning a blind eye to the privacy of his little fox friend. As he tiptoed over to Tails' bed, he noticed that his 'bud' was still submerged in rest, so he did what any good friend would do, and violently shook him until he came to.
"Hiya buddy, the gang and I just heard an ear-splitting noise and-" Tails stopped Sonic mid sentence to respond simply and calmly, too energy-lacked to listen.
"I'm so tired… please… just go without me, it's probably just Eggman again. You guys can probably beat him without my help, and besides, working non-stop for weeks has really knackered me out!" he jested with a giggle. At this, Sonic simply smiled, winked and gave Tails a thumbs up as he left the room. Knowing that his friend really was fatigued, he concluded that it was best for Tails to rest up. After all, they didn't actually know if it was one of Eggman's bothersome bots - it could've just been a small space rock or something else that was less sinister. Feeling too tired to move, Tails fell back into dormancy after a few minutes, and the gang set off to uncover the cause of this deafening noise without him. While heading over to the site of the sound, an atmosphere of disappointment lingered around the group. Since they knew that Tails wasn't content with his life at the moment, they thought this antisocial behaviour might possibly be the next degree of his melancholy.
As they approached the flames, they started to edge towards this being something else, something they didn't expect at all. A hole of about five metres in depth and with a radius of around ten metres had appeared in the middle of a nearby dark oak forest. They came to the swift conclusion that this was the cause of the bang, so they steadily approached the oversized indent, bracing for a surprise attack. But there was no attack, just a surprise. The smouldering hole was nothing but a deep crimson crater, save for a beautiful, phosphorescent light shining from the bottom. After a few moments, Sonic dived into the hole and grabbed what they soon realised to be an unknown creature around the same size as them, and dashed up to the surface, holding the being in his arms. After the luminous green glow fully died down, the true face of this creature was revealed to them.
"Cosmo?!" Everybody gasped, shocked at the sight of somebody they never imagined to see again. Despite their absolute awe in reaction to the situation, none of them said another word. Cosmo was out cold, and looked terrible; she was bruised, and relatively burned, however Cream could have her healed overnight. Remaining silent from the outright amazement, the team took Cosmo's freezing, scarred body to Cream's where she spent the night conscious but out. As for the rest of them, they all walked to bed with wide eyes, still struggling to convince themselves that what they just saw wasn't a dream. After a few dozen minutes though, everyone but Cream was fast asleep again…
As the Sun made its ascent over the horizon, most of the village's lineup headed over to Cream's house with inconceivable curiosity to check on their newest arrival. Nobody bothered to knock or call inside, they all just burst in with excitement.
"Is she okay?"
"Cream, did she wake up?"
"Please tell me she's okay!"
The voices all questioned and shouted amongst themselves until a lion's roar put them to complete noiselessness. "All of you be quiet right now!" exclaimed Cream, with an irate look upon her face, "Cosmo is upstairs sleeping at this very moment, and all you can do is shout without a care in the world! Now, I want you all to step outside while I check on her, then when I give the word you can slowly enter quietly, and I mean quietly." Her voice slowly dropped in volume as she realised she was shouting too, and the team followed her orders. Cream was incredibly passionate when she felt like it, and no soul would want to get on her bad side. After making a line and trotting out of Cream's abode, they patiently waited for the little rabbit to allow them inside again. After a few minutes, Cream poked her small head out of the upstairs window and smiled at all of them, signalling them to come in (deep down this smile relieved every single one of them as it told them that Cream's anger had retreated once more. Although it rarely came out, her inner demon was something feared by even those with incredible power). The crew tread warily upstairs to see Cosmo lulling in tranquillity under Cream's bedsheets. They crept around the bed, carefully trying not to awaken Cosmo, however she happened to naturally wake up at that very minute. As she rubbed her eyes, she took a look at all of her long lost friends and immediately rubbed her eyes again. She couldn't physically believe her vision.
"Is this real?" she requested tremulously, "Are you all really here?" She tried to continue but broke down into tears. Her joy was unimaginable, yet her fear was still present - the fear that her seed was lost. While she and the others wept in reunion, her real goal was still at the back of her mind, and her other wish - to see Tails again - also resided within the depths of her desire.
"Cosmo," Amy snivelled, "how did you get here… how did you survive?"
Cosmo replied with an in depth explanation of her situation, constantly wiping away tears as she spoke: "Well, when I dropped that seed, I assumed one of you would pick it up. The way I can survive is by finding that seed, so I came here. Most seedrians never find their seeds after they pass, however I had faith in my friends! There is a one month period every seedrian has in which they can search for their seed, allowing them to live on once more after passing. You can use this period at any time, but only once. It took me three weeks to finally find your planet; I was guided by the amulet on my chest but the signals were so weak at first. After I found you all my only option was to come crashing down with what I can only assume was a highly destructive impact both audibly and environmentally. I am very apologetic for disturbing you all, but I must find that seed! Whether it has sprouted, bloomed, or nothing at all, it doesn't matter, I simply need to take a part of the seed's aura. Do any of you know where it could be?"
Amy, overjoyed by the fact that she could be of use by knowing the location of the seed, replied to the leafy being, "Me and Tails have been nurturing the seed for a while now. The plant is in Tails'-" Amy stopped as she saw Cosmo begin to sob uncontrollably.
"Tails… Tails…" she whimpered, trying not to break down again, "can I go to find him? It's been so long… we never got time to- uhm… I'd love to catch up with him, and anyways, I feel fine now thanks to Cream."
"Sure thing Cosmo!" Sonic replied with a thumbs up, even him wiping tears of astonishment and happiness from his eyes. He knew deep down how much Tails and Cosmo liked each other, but he never decided he'd mention it to his foxy pal. They took Cosmo over to Tails' workshop as she twiddled her thumbs in nervousness yet also excitement. By now Tails was awake and working on his tech as he had been for the last couple of years.
Sonic shouted in to Tails, "Tails! Someone is here to see you!"
Amy then whispered into Cosmo's ear, "We'll leave you two alone for a bit." followed by a wink accompanied by a grin. Cosmo slightly blushed but quickly turned back to the door to hide it. As the others walked away, Tails replied to Sonic, even though the blue hedgehog wasn't there anymore.
"Just coming Sonic." he said in a slightly depressing manner, completely ignoring what Sonic actually said, however when he opened the door to reveal the chartreuse, plant like figure, his life turned around in an instant.
"C-co-..." Before Tails could even finish her name he dropped to his knees, rubbing his eyes at the sight. He walked over to try and lay his paw upon her (he assumed he was in yet another of his adventurous dreams in which his imagination played with him like a child would a new toy), and when he could physically feel her, he understood that this was real life. "COSMO!" he continued, crying in delight and also shock. His mind flooded with enjoyment within this frame of time, though after a second he stopped to think of all of the most pessimistic outcomes to this situation. What if it was just a doppelgänger, or a very intricate illusion from Eggman? He stepped back a little, staring at the leafy young girl as she gazed right back at him. Tears were rolling down his face from this assimilation of what was happening.
"Tails… Tails!" she cried out, running over to him while tears trailed from her face and tightly grasping him in a hug. His mind was at ease - he knew this was real - however the feeling of ease was not enough to cover up his multitudinous salty drops of elation. He sobbed into her shoulder, hugging back in a loving yet possessive embrace as if to keep her for himself. This feeling… it was something he hadn't felt for years. The feeling was fulfilment. He was no longer bereft of enjoyment; he was no longer alone in his workshop; he was no longer condemned to a life of anguish and nothingness. For the first time in two and a half years, Tails had a chance to be happy. Although he was unaware of how long she would be there, why she was there or how she got there, he knew it was really Cosmo, and at that precise moment in time, he was the happiest fox alive. The two sat and hugged each other for a good ten minutes, both still weeping in euphoria. Nonetheless, they did not speak to one another yet; they both wanted to preserve this feeling for eternity, but after a while they each leaned back and studied each other's waterlogged eyes while thinking only about the face before them, the exact same thing coming to both of their minds.
"You really are the most perf-" each of them paused at the exact same time and both flushed with embarrassment, jolted at the fact that they spoke aloud. They had both been carrying strong feelings for each other for the entire time that they were apart, so now that they'd reunited Tails felt like he couldn't hold back anymore, not after two and a half years. "U-um… Cosmo… what I meant to say was…" Tails started to become bashful, turning his head down to his lap and playing with his gloves, "I never really got the opportunity to tell you, but ever since we first explored that cave together… I just felt an indisputable connection between us both. I'm sure you don't feel the same way, in fact I'm probably just a drag for you, but I need to say it incase I lose you again. Cosmo, I love you. I have loved since we first spent time together. Although I didn't know it, you stole my heart quicker than I could even realise it. I'm sorry to dump all of this on you right now… I'm just so afraid that you'll disappear again. I'll give you a minute alone…" He got up and started to walk slowly toward the iron door of his workshop, relatively embarrassed at all that he'd revealed, however Cosmo grabbed his wrist before he could take another step. Tears were now streaming down her face like the waterfalls of Angel Island as she tried to hint at him to sit in front of her, which he struggled to see through the rivers of jubilance cascading down his cheeks too.
Once he had finally sat himself down before her, she held his hands in hers and leaned toward his ear. "Tails, you have no idea what that means to me." She leaned back again, staring once more with her azure eyes into his, "I came here with only two real intentions; sure meeting the others warmed my heart up, but seeing you again and hearing that from you… well, that made my heart melt." She concluded her statement with a hug, in the middle of which she whispered again, "O-oh, and by the way," she stumbled, "I-I guess I've loved you since we first met too. Something about you charmed me from the beginning. Your caring yet sophisticated personality was something I'd never witnessed before, so I guess on that first mission you also stole my heart." Cosmo was blushing from cheek to cheek, but wasn't finished yet. "I know it sounds stupid or maybe cliché but I've loved you ever since that day, yet back on the Blue Typhoon I was just too embarrassed to speak up. I'm sorry if I caused you any pain or-" Cosmo was stopped by Tails as he pulled her into an even tighter clasp of affection, though not a painful one.
"Just don't leave again! Promise me!" Tails lamented once more, his head resting on Cosmo's left shoulder as he continued to bawl. "Just don't leave… again…" After a few minutes, Tails calmed down.
They were now cuddling for about another fifteen minutes, both silently trying to comprehend the events of the last thirty or so. Cosmo gently caressed Tails' back, analysing his silky, golden fur with her soft hands while Tails stroked the back of Cosmo's head, feeling every inch of her lush, jade hair. While both of them were blushing in the situation, neither of them could tell since both had their eyes firmly shut, really admiring one another's features for their feeling. Although two years had passed, the two hadn't really changed much; Cosmo's hair was a little longer and the rosebuds on her head had flourished, and Tails was a bit taller, however this didn't really faze them at all. They were too lost in each other's presence. They could never be this intimate before - when they were on the Blue Typhoon the Metarex were the only things they could focus on - thus they took this opportunity to express their love fully, with nobody around to humiliate them. Following this heartwarming session, Cosmo remembered her other goal: the seed.
"Oh, Tails," Cosmo began to ask, not breaking their passionate hug, "do you know where I could find that plant that Amy was talking about? Apparently you two have been growing it for a while now. I'd love to see how it's doing!" She was careful not to mention the fact that she needed the plant's aura to give her a true life once more, however Tails seemed anxious to even show her it in the first place.
"W-well, um…" Tails stuttered, trying his hardest to stay calm, "s-sure Cosmo. If you really want to." He indicated that Cosmo should follow him and apprehensively went upstairs to his room. As he walked in, his face instantly turned to a deep rose colour as he buried his head in his pillow. "There it is…" he mumbled, pointing at the plant's exact location even though he couldn't see a thing. Before anything else, Cosmo seemed to pick up the plant and extract some kind of energy from it, however Tails was still trying to hide his embarrassment, so he couldn't lay an eye on this fascinating event. The process was only very short - Cosmo simply just absorbed some of the seeds energy into her amulet, allowing her to return to a true state of being once more. As a matter of fact, nobody saw her do it, so the gang never really witnessed or understood the almost ritual like actions that she took - Cosmo just did them and carried on, except now with that off of her chest she had what felt like endless time to spend with Tails and the rest of her friends.
As she finished after around 3 minutes, she turned to tails who was still bright cerise. Deciding to take a look around the room (which she hadn't done yet since she was so focussed on the seed), Cosmo realised the cause for Tails' sudden discomposure.
"Tails…" Cosmo spoke to him in a confused tone, "is tha-"
"Listen!" Tails interrupted, terminating her sentence midway. "Don't get the wrong idea, I just drew this when I was bored, honest. I wasn't trying to be creepy, I was just trying to spend some time outside of the hangar - it sure does get a little tedious after a while, heheh…" He tried to avert her attention from the image upon his wall, however she was entranced by it. The canvas was around one metre long and a half tall, and upon it was a gorgeous portrait of Cosmo herself that Tails had created simply from his memory of her. Tails had captured every detail: her angelic, emerald hair; the elegant roses atop her head, and last but not least, her face. He highlighted her sky blue eyes, her adorable smile and her soft, smooth skin with incredible intricacies. Cosmo stared in awe while Tails was still unable to bring himself to look at her.
"Tails, this is absolutely wonderful! I didn't know you were such a budding artist, let alone someone who was that creative at all!" Cosmo explained, the amazement in her voice genuine. "How in the world did you create this if we were apart for so long?"
Tails became rather flustered when he couldn't think of a false answer; he wanted to avoid telling her that he saw her in his dreams every night. "Um, well, ya see…" he tried to stall, praying for something to come to him, "I… just guess I've got a pretty good memory." He rubbed his hand on the back of his head, "A-and besides… how could I ever forget that face?" His comment made Cosmo's heart flutter, however she thought she had hugged him a little too much, so she shot him a warm, cute smile instead. That was something else that could never escape the memory of Tails; Cosmo's smile was a thing that he cherished. It was so perfect: not over-exaggerated yet carrying so much with it. It was just one of the infinite factors that made her perfection in Tails' mind.
Once Tails actually managed to get up from his bed, and Cosmo finally took her eyes off of the artwork, they decided it was time to go to the others. They agreed that they would act like good friends when around the others, even though Amy knew just how timid they both were and would probably take advantage of it in about two seconds. As they left the workshop, Tails swiftly surveyed the area to check if someone had been listening to them. Nobody was there, so their 'secret' was safe for the moment. The afternoon was still young, and the team decided they would go on a picnic together now that the Metarex were stopped and Eggman was on vacation (every summer even Eggman took two weeks off to chill out, giving Sonic and his friends time to relax as well). They all gathered outside of Cream's house at two o'clock: Sonic, Amy, Cream and Cheese, Cream's Mother, Tails, Cosmo and even Knuckles arrived to set off on their alfresco adventure (on which they happened to arrive at an expansive lake to which Amy had always wanted to take Sonic alone). They all walked with a spring in their step, each happy to have an old friend back and also to get some days away from the everlasting conflict with Eggy. Tails and Cosmo were hanging back, catching up on a few things yet completely ignoring the fact that they were trying not to act like they were in love. They soon arrived at the lake, which was a magnificent sight for all.
Surrounded by trees of varying heights and colour, the lake shimmered in the afternoon sunlight as the team set up their picnic blanket. Tails and Cosmo had now merged with the group, chatting and jesting with the others as Cream and her mother unpacked the food. Sonic was dashing around the area, travelling countless metres every second. Nobody could ever catch him, not even with their eye. All they could ever catch a glimpse of was the blurry, blue line that trailed behind him due to his abnormal speed.
After the snacks were all laid out, the group all took a seat on the soft, checkered blanket (which could somehow fit all eight of the pals on it with room to spare) and rejoiced in each other's company. It was very rare for them all to be together like this when they weren't in battle, so everyone was able to catch up with one another and share some jokes too.
"Hey Cream," Amy said with a mouth chock-full of pie, "these snacks are amazing! You've just gotta teach me how to make these one day!"
Cream replied with a sense of gratitude, "Aw, Amy… I'd be delighted to teach you mother's recipe! Me and Cheese make these all the time at home." Amy continued to chow down on the plentiful pastries, while Sonic started to cause some trouble.
"So Knuckles, how's it going with the Bat?" he investigated, winking at Knuckles in an attempt to liven things up.
Knuckles growled back at Sonic, "So you think you're the wise guy again huh? Don't you think we oughta take a look-see at the more interesting relationship?" His head tilted towards Tails (who was inconveniently for him sat beside Cosmo at that time) and grinned mischievously at the furry fox, staring him in the eyes as he raised an eyebrow. Tails blushed a little and took a look at Cosmo. She was too interested in Cream and Cheese's delectable delicacies to have listened to Knuckles, however Tails' hopes of nobody else listening were soon tossed out of the window.
"Yeah, you two," Amy spoke excitedly, this time without a mouthful of food, "what's going on between you?" Accompanied by a finger pointing straight at Tails and Cosmo, Amy's enquiry caught both of theirs and everybody else's attention. She knew exactly what was going on, she just wanted to cause a commotion. Amy had spent a lot of time around Tails over the years - she knew just how shy he really was when it came to personal questions. As for Cosmo, Amy could tell that she was like a delicate flower on the inside from the very first time she asked about Tails over two and a half years ago. This was a perfect opportunity for Amy to play with their emotions like puppets, which while being a rather disagreeable thing to do, brought her a lot of amusement.
"We are just good friends and we've been catching up a little!" Tails exclaimed, unintentionally drawing the spotlight to himself. When Tails soon realised the attention he gained, he let his bashful side get the better of him as he shrunk behind his two fluffy tails. Cosmo swiftly tried to help Tails' case, however before a word came out she was crushed by the pressure of the fierce yet curious eyes focussing on her. She also retreated behind Tails' tails, laying her head upon his shoulder. The couple were teased for a few minutes before the flock of friends began to talk amongst themselves again. Tails and Cosmo felt it was safe to come out now, however the moment that Tails brought his two tails down was the moment he realised his fatal mistake…
"Good friends, huh?" Amy peered over them, interrogating them once more. "You seem awfully close for good friends, hmm?"
There was no escape for them; they had to admit it there and then unless they could find a way out. But there was no option. They were encompassed by the others, and Tails became flustered due to the surrounding group. Although his frustration was growing, Tails tried to keep calm, not wanting to seem quick tempered in front of Cosmo, besides, that was Knuckles' job. He had to find a way to defuse the situation quickly, but his brain really couldn't conjure any ideas on how to. He looked to his right, checking Cosmo's expression. She looked back at Tails as if unfazed by the situation, showing off a smile of purity and happiness at him. Reminding Tails of what him and Cosmo had been through today, this showed him that he shouldn't be ashamed or embarrassed of being in love with someone so gracious and affectionate.
Tails leant over to Cosmo, murmuring something to her with his hand covering his mouth: "Do you think we should just tell them? The practically know already." Cosmo replied to Tails with a simple nod as if to say 'go ahead', so he did exactly that.
"So what if we like each other… it's not a bad thing, is it?" questioned Tails, his tone becoming increasingly diffident with each word. "I-I've never felt like this before… it's such a fantastic feeling…" He stopped his sentence and looked down at Cosmo, who's face had turned to a deep incarnadine at the words of the cute kitsune. He beamed with a legitimate fondness down to her, his cheeks also starting to burn up. Tails reached his arm down to above the soft ground atop which Cosmo sat and helped her to a standing position. Carefully taking both of her hands in his own, Tails positioned himself face-to-face with Cosmo, gazing intently into her stunning, cerulean eyes as she did the same. While both of them realised that they were being mushy in front of everyone, they were both too enthralled within one-another to even move. Hand in hand, the two of them stared at each other, adoring the features of the other person completely and utterly. Forgetting their situation completely, their attention to each other was soon fractured by an immature remark from the others.
"Ooooh." all of them buzzed, fixed on the couple.
"Look who finally had the guts to speak up." Amy said in an almost condescending yet positive tone. Tails and Cosmo were lost; the two had released their secret before two hours could even pass. Cosmo decided she hadn't said enough and was letting Tails try to deal with it all, so she said the same thing she did quite a while ago to avert the limelight.
"So Amy, how is stalking Son-" she stopped midway, realising that this spiteful statement might hurt Amy, however as the pink hedgehog pulled out her enormous hammer, Cosmo understood that the only one who would get harmed was herself…
"Cosmo! Look out!" Tails warned, observing that Amy was by no means joking around. As she furiously swung her hammer at Cosmo in response to the brave remark, Tails pushed his leafy love out of the way and took a forceful clobber from the mighty mallet, causing him to instantly black out and fall to the earth.
"Hmph. He deserved it." Amy argued, even though she had been the one provoking Tails for the last ten minutes or so. Surprisingly, everybody just continued enjoying their day out, practically ignoring the fallen fox and happily continuing to eat and play. After Cream checked Tails' pulse, she assured everyone that he was fine, not that they appeared worried. Cosmo just assumed that Amy may do this often since there was little to no reaction from the others. While she was very concerned for Tails' wellbeing, she decided to join the others and wait until later to see to Tails, hoping it would give them some time alone. Tails remained passed out for a few hours, lasting even past the team packing up. By half past six, the team were about to leave and head back to the village together when Cream noticed the furry, yellow corpse laying beside the lake.
"Oh my, we almost left Tails behind," she giggled, "I'll take him back to my place toni-"
"Oh don't worry about it Cream, I'll take care of him for tonight." Cosmo rudely interrupted Cream. Tails happened to had woken up ten minutes prior to this, however he rather cunningly stayed in a dead still position to see what would happen. Upon hearing Cosmo's words he began to blush, warmed by her possessive side over him after only a day of being back together. Although Tails was quite nervous that someone would realise that he was awake and listening, he was really grateful deep down. He was grateful that this happened to him. That he received this gift today. That he was blessed enough to not only be able to look at Cosmo's breathtaking features everyday, but to know that she looked back at Tails with the same obligation.
Tails' past wasn't a very nice one. Ever since childhood, friends seemed like an oddity for him. The other animals would simply catch a glimpse of Tails working on gadgets and would almost always make it their job to destroy his work, breaking his heart over and over and over again. It was all he had. Without a friend to hang with, Tails was restricted to solitude, his only pass-time being his machines. At a point, all seemed doomed for the young fox; he had nothing to his name, not even a friend, however one day hope had a chance to be restored as a plane crashed relatively close to him. While checking out the crash site, he couldn't resist fixing up the unattended aircraft with his tools: seeing a machine in such abysmal condition almost made him shudder. As he worked on the plane, a voice shouted from the entrance to the forest behind him, startling him a little.
"What're you doing to my plane?" the voice called in a concerned yet not aggravated voice.
Tails never really talked to other people, so he was resultantly very timid. "U-um, I thought I could fix it up a little after you broke it. I'm really sorry if you didn't want me to…" replied Tails to the voice, slowly turning around to reveal the characteristics of the plane's owner. They were around two and a half feet tall and deep blue in colour, resembling the ocean on a hot summer's day. Their eyes were large and confident, and their smirk was quite reassuring. Behind their head were long, blue spikes which appeared not to be affected by gravity. The red shoes on their feet were quite worn, and Tails also noticed that they wore white gloves, just like himself.
At that point Tails was already halfway through painting the plane and he didn't know what to do, until the hedgehog spoke again. "I do kind of like the new design, plus it's been needing a tune up for weeks now. You did me a favour, pal." Tails had never been called pal before. On the inside he jumped with excitement and joy, but on the outside he tried to act normal in an attempt to prevent this new guy from thinking he was weird like every other 'friend' he tried to make. "The name's Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog!" the voice called once again, walking closer to Tails, "And who are you little bud?"
"My name is Miles Prower, but I prefer T-Tails." Tails timorously responded.
"I like the name, and what you've done to the Tornado. Wanna hang out? I could use a trusty and handy sidekick!" Sonic asked conclusively, reaching out his hand. Tails' eyes lit up at the moment - this was not only the first friend Tails had ever made, but also the first animal to ever appreciate his work. From that day forward, Tails slowly met the others with Sonic, eventually causing a group of friends to emerge which still works together today. However, one thing had been bothering Tails for a while since meeting Sonic. While Sonic would never admit it, him and Amy did have a bond between them, be it a unique one. Cream and Cheese went together like bread and butter, and as for Knuckles and Rouge… their relationship wasn't obvious, but Tails knew they had something for each other. Something Tails was for so long deprived of was someone to call his own, someone who felt the same way about him that he did about them.
That's when Cosmo showed up.
In the beginning, Cosmo just appeared to be a new teammate, Tails not really having any feelings towards her. Though after spending one mission together, Tails realised that Cosmo wasn't ordinary at all; she was different to others that he knew. She was forgiving and kind, never letting anyone take the blame for something, even if they were the culprit. She was completely adorable in his eyes, her acts such as patching up Tails' sore head after he told her it was fine making her almost too gentle to be true. But most of all… Cosmo was beautiful in every single way. Whether it be her soft, angelic voice, her leafy body or her pulchritudinous face, Tails couldn't help but fall for the seedrian after a few hours. Tails wanted to spend more time with Cosmo on the Blue Typhoon, however they never had many chances while fighting the powerful Metarex force.
Then, things turned for the worse.
As the battle with the Metarex was coming to a close, the tension was starting to build as Sonic and Shadow were both ready to fight, empowered by the chaos emeralds. This is when Cosmo left Tails and the others. She realised that this was what she had been there for, that this was her true purpose. Leaving the Blue Typhoon behind, Cosmo ignored all concern and flew straight into the opposing gravity field, planting herself upon the planet standing before them. With this, Sonic and Shadow both learned that a sacrifice was necessary to finish the Metarex, keeping in mind what was best for the galaxy. As the pair of now yellow hedgehogs blasted out of the cannon essentially at Cosmo, Tails couldn't help but look away from the window, through which a blinding display of light coming from the explosion could be viewed.
Cosmo was gone. Until today when finally she made a return to life and to Sonic and friends' planet.
Tails' head was now throbbing in pain, the thwack from Amy really taking its toll on his well-being now. By now, the team had all left to go back to the village aside from Cosmo, who volunteered herself to take care of Tails alone. She sat behind Tails' head, slowing gazing over his resting body and adoring every part of him. His three long bangs, his perky ears, his patches of soft white fur and his caring, aqua eyes all fit together to create what Cosmo thought to be a masterpiece of a being. Tails had fallen back into sleep after trying to stay as absent from movement as possible, however he was soon awoken by a feeling he never knew he loved. As he reawakened once more, he stared down at his body to see Cosmo delicately brushing her hand over his fluffy, pearl white chest fur repeatedly. Cosmo, not realising Tails was even awake, decided to check if he was coming to or not, however when she turned to see him facing right at her and blushing with a certain cute sheepishness, she immediately became deep red. She realised at that moment just how in love she was. Every minor detail - even Tails' chest fur - was magical to her. She became quite uneasy after being caught innocently playing with his body, however Tails wasn't one to mind so long as it was somebody he loved. As Cosmo retracted her hand in delayed panic, Tails said something to Cosmo in a hushed tone as he tried and failed to not turn scarlet.
"Y-you don't have to stop, Cosmo. It kinda feels…" he tried to utter the words, turning to a much redder and more timid state, "it kinda feels g-good. And don't get the wrong idea, I mean it feels nice!" Cosmo giggled a little at the fox that she found oh so cute, yet she also accepted his instructions, caressing him more as he led beneath her. She moved a little so that she could more easily see Tails' face as they got lost in each other's eyes once again. The affectionate pair stayed there into the night, too absorbed in one another to be bothered about leaving. As the moon reflected an icy white glow onto the world around them, Tails and Cosmo shared this intimate moment with a secret gratitude; both of them were still in some disbelief that they met for a second time.
"Cosmo… you know how we travelled through the galaxy? And we saw the stars, new worlds and everything else that lies out there?" Tails asked quite randomly.
"Yeah, it was a really fun journey if you ask me. So what about it?" Cosmo replied, still stroking Tails as he led in complete serenity.
Tails sighed in preparation for his speech. "Well… when I look into your eyes, there is something so in depth and complex that I just can't quite comprehend it. It's as if all of the beauty of the planets that you restored and all the stars that we witnessed has combined into one azure gaze. I-I know I keep repeating myself and it probably doesn't even seem genuine anymore, but Cosmo… you are so beautiful. I mean it when I say that inside and out you are one of the kindest, no, the kindest, most genuine person I have ever met. While I used to hate all of this mushy stuff, you completely flipped my world, showing me that it can be kinda fun. I-I-" He stuttered, slowing his words as he started to realise how soft he was being. "I don't want you to ever leave Cosmo! I want to be with you forever! I… I've never loved someone before… but I love you. So much." By now Tails was struggling to stay still, his timidness beginning to make him want to run. It was so difficult for him to speak up like this, especially after a past of loneliness, but Cosmo took the words out of him. His incandescent adoration toward her was so potent that he could hardly control himself, however every last one of his words were truthful. Not once would he tell a lie to Cosmo, which was why he also ended up emptying out his feelings to her quite a lot.
While Tails' fountain of emotions would be over the top for any ordinary being, Cosmo acknowledged every last droplet of Tails' love. Deep down, she admired his ability to speak up. She found it cute when he went red with diffidence, or when he would trip on his words. However, anyone could recognise the adorable shy side to Tails. Cosmo saw more in the fox. She saw the depths of his love and passion and she realised that while Tails came across as a modest character, he was also capable of saying some of the most heartwarming things she had ever heard, even in situations where she would never expect it. Even though they only revealed these feelings to each other less than twelve hours ago, they had essentially been building them up for more than two years; although neither of them knew if they'd meet again, a part of each of them desperately clung on to the memories they had of one another.
Cosmo, after fully comprehending Tails' words, finally responded to him after a minute or so. "I can't explain in words how you make me feel, Tails. Ever since day one you stood out to me as different to the others: you are modest and attractive, yet also intelligent and sophisticated. If it sounds like I'm just making this up, go ahead and believe that. But hear me out: you are the most perfect being I have ever met, and… and…" She was now feeling the same way as Tails was prior, starting to gradually blush and impede her words. "A-and I love you Tails. I can't express my thanks to fate for ever allowing me to meet you, but if I could I would definitely be there for some time." Throughout all of this Cosmo never lifted her hand from the warm fox's fur, still gently stroking his silky, snowy chest fur.
You'd have thought that they would have stopped sitting there by now, however their love was something different. It took them to a different place, somewhere where they needn't worry about anything. A feeling of safety and warmth accompanied this seemingly alternate world. Cosmo was now really struggling to hold herself back. Every time she looked at him - be it the three distinct strands atop his head, his two perfectly kept tails or any other of his features - something else would grab her attention. She wanted to be there for him.
Always.
Letting her feelings of adoration get the better of her, Cosmo finally stopped holding back. "Tails, are you alright to stand?" she questioned out of the blue. He replied with a nod and stood up, revealing the large mark on the back of his head from Amy's fierce whack. Cosmo, however, wasn't worrying about his injury at the moment. She stared attentively at Tails once more, reddening in the face. Cosmo grabbed both of Tails' hands, locking her fingers between his, and slowly leant herself toward his head while closing her eyes. Tails, startled by the situation, only realised what was going on after it had begun. Cosmo at first gently pressed her lips against Tails', making his face hotter than ever. At the start, he just accepted her kiss, his eyes wide open in complete awe, however after only a few seconds had passed he found himself completely taken away. He also shut his eyes, both of them now sacrificing vision to feel the intense sensation in a little more detail. The kiss was fierce; while it conveyed love and care, it was also intense and powerful. The pair were now radiating large amounts of heat as they shared this moment that neither of them could've ever envisioned, but neither of them could see the other's ardent blush since they were too focussed to even take a peek. This went on for around five minutes until they leaned back and looked at each other once more. After contemplating for about thirty seconds, each of them became incredibly embarrassed when they realised what they had done for the first time.
Tails stuttered a few words. "U-um, C-Cosmo?" Tails became bashful as usual, but this time he wasn't the only one. Cosmo too was staring into the ground, too nervous to make eye contact.
"Y-yes Tails?" Cosmo answered, also stumbling upon her words.
Tails spoke up, his words clearer now, "I… That felt… amazing. I've never done that before… and with you…" Although his sentences were somewhat disjointed, Cosmo knew exactly what he meant. After all, she shared this opinion. It was something she had never felt before, and it did feel fantastic, no matter how demure she became at the thoughts of it. They each sat there for a while, cooling off while chatting about the past and planning for the future. It was edging towards midnight when they decided to finally head back to the others, Tails and Cosmo hand in hand while they strolled.
A small tear arose in Cosmo's eye as the day came to a beautiful end.